Dredmond Manor
by The Rockologist
Summary: STORY COMPLETE! Rouge is hired by a mysterious character to find a priceless jewel. But what tricks does this guy have up his sleeve? Rated PG for violence and mild language.
1. Intro

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the hedgehog, Tails, Amy or any of those people. I do, however, own Niagera (It's me you fools!), James, Hell's Jewel and Dredmond Manor.  
  
Chapter 1: Intro  
  
Rouge silently stepped up to the Master Emerald shrine on Angel Island. "I can't believe that Knucklehead hasn't caught me yet," she cackled. Rouge was about to grab the emerald when someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.  
  
"Not so fast, bat-girl," came a voice from behind her. Rouge spun around to see none other than Knuckles the echidna glaring at her. "Just what do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Do you honestly have to ask that?" Rouge said, annoyed. She pushed Knuckles' hand off her shoulder. "Trying to get MY emerald off your island."  
  
Knuckles rolled his eyes. "If I had a dollar for every time you tried to take that emerald, which is MINE, I'd be rich."  
  
"I'm sure you would," Rouge replied, smirking. "But not as rich as I'm going to be when I cash in this emerald."  
  
"You're not going to cash it in because I'm not going to let you get it!" Knuckles quickly stepped between Rouge and the Master Emerald. "Now, can we make this easy or do I have to fight you again?"  
  
Rouge wasn't in the mood to fight. Besides, every time she did fight him she ended up walking away with cuts and bruises. "Fine," she said. "Keep your emerald, it stinks like echidnas do."  
  
"Now where have I heard that before?" Knuckles said sarcastically.  
  
Rouge shook her fists in anger. "You just love to tease me, don't you? You're such a jerk!"  
  
Knuckles laughed and sat down next to the Master Emerald. "Think what you want, but remember, it's easier to get a load of jewels out of Dredmond Manor than it is to get past me." He closed his eyes and leaned against the shrine.  
  
Rouge thought for a moment. "Are you willing to bet on that?" she asked, a sly smile finding its way to her mouth.  
  
Knuckles opened one eye. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Think about it. You said it's easier to get a bunch of jewels out of Dredmond Manor than it is past you. Are you willing to bet on that?" Rouge repeated.  
  
"Wait! You're not talking about breaking into that place, are you?" he asked. "You couldn't make it past the front gates alive if you tried."  
  
"I bet I could get every last jewel and diamond out of the place without even being noticed," Rouge countered.  
  
Knuckles studied the look on her face. "Fine," he said. "If you can get at least ten jewels out of that house, I'll give you---"  
  
"That Master Emerald." Rouge interrupted and quickly shook his hand, closing the deal.  
  
Knuckles' eyes widened. "What? No! I can't give you the---"  
  
"Too late, we shook on it!" Rouge called, already flying away from the island.  
  
Knuckles threw his hands up in aggravation. "Fine, if you can make it out alive!" he called, although he knew Rouge couldn't hear him.  
  
***  
  
Millionaire Estates was a small, gated community that housed Station Square's wealthiest citizens. Long driveways lead to huge homes nestled in the trees. The entire area was built around Billionaire Hill. Dredmond Manor, which was by far the largest house in the town and possibly the world, was at the top of the hill. The gargantuan mansion was visible from any area in Millionaire Estates.  
  
The yellow taxicab dropped Rouge off in front of the hamlet's gates. Taxis were not allowed to enter the community unless granted permission from one of its citizens. She had prepared a well thought out plan as soon as she left Angel Island. She had prepared an empty UPS package to give to the owner to distract him while she searched for the jewels. Not as simple as it sounds, but getting jewels out of Dredmond Manor was going to be easy.  
  
Rouge walked past the front gates of numerous mansions until Dredmond Manor came into view. It was an awesome sight. The 70,000 square foot house protected by tall fences and walls with the world's best security systems built into them. The house itself was home to the richest man in the world, Niagera P. Dredmond the Third, and some of the world's most valuable collections. Huge safes and other rooms kept priceless collections of watches, cars, ships, airplanes and diamonds safe from the outside world.  
  
Rouge was after the diamonds, obviously.  
  
She approached the tall wrought iron fence that separated Niagera's square mile of property from the rest of the world. Rouge came to the main gate. Each gate was about twenty feet high and tipped with spearheads to keep out intruders. The gates were attached to large concrete columns, each topped off with tall electric lamps that illuminated the long driveway. In the center of the arch over the gates was a large golden 'N.' In one of the columns was a marble block with the words 'Dredmond Manor' stamped into it.  
  
The gates were locked, obviously.  
  
"Getting past these will be a piece of cake," Rouge said, smiling. In one quick move she spread her wings and flew over the fence. She landed on a cobblestone driveway leading the house.  
  
Dredmond Manor loomed in the distance, dominating the star-studded horizon. The huge house was lit up by large spotlights. A tall clock tower rose from the center of the mansion, topped off with a large round observatory. The face illuminated the entire front yard with dim light.  
  
Rouge started slowly walking up to the house. She passed numerous marble statuettes, small fountains, and bushes in the shape of various animals and dozens of tall, elegant lampposts that illuminated the driveway.  
  
The driveway looped around a large fountain right outside the front doors. A large black Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine was parked in front of the fountain. Rouge walked past it and climbed the stairs to the large oak doors. The doorbell was a long rope dangling from the mouth of a golden dragonhead, positioned just above the doors.  
  
"Here goes nothing," Rouge mumbled. She extended her arm and pulled the long velvet rope. The clock tower's bells started ringing. They stopped a few seconds later. Rouge heard a buzzing sound coming from inside the house. It stopped, and one of the doors opened.  
  
A small robot butler hovered in front of Rouge. Its metal body was painted to look like a suit. It had short, skinny arms, a simple cylindrical body and head. The head had nothing but one lens for its robotic eye. "Can I help you?" it asked in a monotone, computerized voice.  
  
Rouge stared at the robot before holding up an empty brown UPS package. "I have a delivery for a Mr. Niagera Patterson Dredmond," she lied. "Is this his house?"  
  
"One of them," the butler said. "I'll take it." The robot reached for the package, but Rouge pulled it away.  
  
"Sorry.um.sir. But Mr. Dredmond requested that he take the package himself, you know, for security reasons and all," she said.  
  
The robot processed the information for a few seconds. "Very well, please come in and wait." The door opened all the way and Rouge walked into the mansion. She was instantly awestruck.  
  
The room was six stories high and made completely of white marble. Balconies and staircases lined the walls everywhere. The clock tower's golden spherical bob at the end of its pendulum slowly swung back and forth in the center of the room over a fountain. The whole foyer was lit up by dozens of small, crystal chandeliers that were attached to the walls. A dark red carpet completely covered the floor.  
  
The robot started buzzing and headed toward a huge marble staircase. At the top of the staircase were two big oak doors, the entrance to the mansion's main hallway. Rouge watched the robot open the doors and disappear from sight.  
  
Moments later, a loud voice boomed throughout the house. "Package? I didn't order any package!" It was the voice of Niagera P. Dredmond the Third. "Why didn't you just sign and bring it up to me?!"  
  
"Well sir, the lady said you requested for it to be delivered to you personally," Rouge heard the robot say.  
  
"Ah, fine! It's probably my Watch Collector of the Month Club prize." A tall, slim figure dressed in a fine black suit emerged from the oak doorway at the top of the staircase. It was a duck, Niagera P. Dredmond the Third.  
  
'I didn't know the richest man in the world was a duck,' Rouge thought. She could see him more clearly as he approached. He back was slightly curved and he walked with a slight limp. On his left wrist he wore an expensive Rolex watch made of gold with diamond hour markers.  
  
Niagera walked up to Rouge and looked down at her (he was about a foot taller than she was). "So, what's the story?" he growled.  
  
Rouge was sort of stunned. She expected him to be a kind old gentleman. Instead, she got a cranky old grouch. "A package, sir. You requested it to be delivered to you personally, remember?"  
  
"No," Niagera said. He took the box and examined it. "Feels kind of light. I'd better open it up before I sign for anything."  
  
Rouge watched happily as Niagera ripped the tape off, threw the scraps on the floor and opened the box. "Hey, there's nothing here! What are you trying to pull?!"  
  
Niagera looked away from the box and back to Rouge, who was now holding a small stun gun in her hand. She smiled. "Me? I'm not pulling anything, except this trigger." She pulled the trigger. A small blue bolt of energy shot out and headed for Niagera, who had no time to react. The bolt hit him in the stomach and he keeled over, stunned.  
  
The robot, which had been hovering behind Niagera the whole time, looked at Rouge and processed some information. Rouge smiled and shot the robot. The blue bolt hit the robot's torso and short-circuited it. It fell to the ground.  
  
Rouge blew on the gun barrel like a cowboy from the old west and put it back into her purse. "Now to find those diamonds," she said, and headed for the grand marble staircase. "If I were a billionaire, where would I hide a bunch of jewels?"  
  
She stopped running and thought for a moment. "Of course, in a safe!" Rouge reached the top of the staircase and threw open the oak doors. She froze. She was standing at the beginning of a corridor that seemed to go on forever. Dozens of doors and openings to other hallways were everywhere.  
  
Rouge threw her hands up in frustration. "How am I gonna find anything in this house?" Then she remembered her jewel radar. She pulled it out of her purse and activated it. It started beeping right away. Rouge somewhat smiled. "Well, that makes things a little easier."  
  
She continued following the radar's beep. She walked through hallways lined with paintings and suits of armor; she explored gigantic rooms full of books and other priceless artifacts. As she went deeper into the mansion, the woodwork of the hallways became older and older looking. Obviously, the house had had parts added to it over the years.  
  
Finally, after nearly an hour of walking through miles of hallways, the radar started beeping faster and faster. It went crazy as she approached the hallway's end. "So, the safe's behind this wall," she said. She searched around for a lever to move the wall. There was a chandelier attached to the wall.  
  
Rouge thought for a moment. "Eh, what the heck?" She tugged on the chandelier, and the wall flew up. She stood there looking surprised. "I didn't think that was actually going to work."  
  
In front of her was a huge safe, about eight feet high and six feet wide. It was the entrance to Niagera's diamond collection. There was a small electronic control panel on the door. Rouge pulled out her stun gun and fired at it. The controls short circuited and the safe opened.  
  
Rouge stood there, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
In front of her was the biggest diamond collection she had ever seen. Thousands of jewels all shapes and sizes lined the walls in glass display cases. Jewels ranging from 0.4 to fifty karats rested on dark blue velvet displays right out in the open. On the other side of the room was a case full of gemstones. Rubies, emeralds, opals and other various stones were under the glass display. Hundreds of diamond rings, bracelets and necklaces were everywhere. The whole setup was beautiful and picturesque, until Rouge blew open the glass displays with a bolt from her stun gun.  
  
She pulled out a folded up bag from her purse and started stuffing it with jewels. "They're all mine for the taking!" she said happily as he shoved as many bracelets as she could onto her gloved hands.  
  
She squeezed the last diamond into her bag about ten minutes later. With some effort, she threw the heavy bag over her shoulder and started to leave the room. "Wait 'till Knucklehead sees what I've got," she said. "I must have a billion dollars worth of stuff in here!"  
  
Suddenly, Rouge froze. "Wait, this was too easy. Why weren't there any alarms?" She stood there and thought for a moment before gasping. "Oh, no! I must've been a ----"  
  
***  
  
"---- Silent alarm," Rouge mumbled as a police officer handcuffed her.  
  
She and about a dozen police officers were in the foyer. The jewels Rouge had stolen were neatly being spread out on the floor and photographed. Others were taking pictures of the mansion and jotting down notes on yellow pads. A doctor was injecting Niagera with a special substance to return him to a conscience state. It worked very quickly.  
  
"Ah! That hurt," Niagera said as he rubbed his arm. He looked around the room and stared at the police officers. "Just what the crap is going on here?!" he demanded.  
  
The chubby police chief walked up to Niagera and started to explain things. "Seems that someone was after your diamonds, Mr. Dredmond. Luckily, she tripped the silent alarm and we came as soon as we can."  
  
"MY DIAMONDS?" Niagera bellowed. "Who? What?!"  
  
"This bat woman," the chief said, pointing to Rouge.  
  
Niagera gave her a look that brought the temperature of the room down about ten degrees. "You! I knew there was something suspicious the moment I saw you," he spat. "You're not dressed like a delivery person. You look like you just came out of Club Nine in Manhattan."  
  
Rouge smiled. "Thank you," she said, smirking.  
  
Niagera went red. "That was by no means a compliment!" he roared.  
  
All the officers in the room stopped and looked at Niagera for a moment before resuming their business. "Well, miss, the boys and I are going to have to take you down to the station," said the chief. "So, who are you anyway?"  
  
"My name? Why, I'm Rouge the bat, world renown treasure hunter," Rouge said, beaming.  
  
Something went off in Niagera's mind when he heard the words 'treasure hunter.' He started to get fidgety a rubbed his hands together. The chief was writing the information down on a yellow pad. "Alright, lets go to the station." He turned to Niagera. "The boys will take care of your diamonds, Mr. Dredmond, while we interrogate this thief."  
  
"No!" Niagera said. "I mean..that won't be necessary. I'm not going to press any charges."  
  
The chief scratched his bearded chin. "Why? She stole over a billion dollars worth---"  
  
"I have my reasons, chief," Niagera growled. "Now, if you'd be so kind, get your 'boys' out of my mansion."  
  
The chief eyed Niagera for a minute before nodding. "Okay, sir. We won't press any charges. "Okay, wrap it up! Time to leave."  
  
Rouge watched as the police officers put away their yellow pads and cameras and left the house without even cleaning up the diamonds. She started to sneak out behind a particularly fat cop, out of Niagera's line of vision.  
  
"Not you," came a steely voice from behind her. Rouge turned to see Niagera grinning at her. "You're staying here." There was something Rouge didn't like about the tone of his voice. It was creeping her out.  
  
Niagera moved quickly and shut the large oak doors and locked them. He leaned against one of them and smiled. "So, Rouge? You're a treasure hunter?"  
  
Rouge leaned against the other door and also smiled. "Yeah, I did say that, didn't I?"  
  
Niagera chuckled and smirked. "Well, have I got something for you," he said. "Come up to my office and I'll discuss it."  
  
Rouge started getting nervous. This Niagera character was starting to scare her now. Rouge knew never to let her guard down around people like this. "Okay, I'll come."  
  
***  
  
Niagera's office was huge. Shelves sixty feet high crammed with books lined three walls. A large shark tank was built into the wall behind Niagera's mahogany desk. Rouge sat facing him as he sorted through dozens of files, pulling out various documents and muttering stuff to himself.  
  
"Yes!" Niagera said so suddenly that Rouge almost jumped out of the large armchair. "Here they are!"  
  
"What are they?" Rouge asked.  
  
"You'll see soon enough." Niagera opened a large, decorated wooden box full of hand rolled cigars. He selected one and stuck it in his mouth without lighting it. "My name is Niagera Patterson Dredmond the Third. I'm the richest man in the world."  
  
Niagera leaned over the desk, very close to Rouge's face. "Do you know how I became so successful?" he whispered.  
  
'Okay, now I'm scared.' Rouge backed away a few inches. "No," she replied.  
  
Niagera slammed himself back into his chair and lit the cigar. "I own a diamond mining corporation, the biggest in the world. It's called 'The Niagera Corporation', or N-Corp, for short."  
  
Rouge was now becoming very interested. "Diamonds?" she asked. "How about emeralds and rubies?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah. All that stuff." He puffed on his cigar. "You see there's this one diamond I'm looking for. It's very famous. Numerous people have tried to find it, but they haven't been successful. I've been trying to find it for the past decade and even I haven't been successful."  
  
"What's this diamond called?" Rouge asked.  
  
"Hell's Jewel. But that isn't important," Niagera took another puff from his cigar. "What is important is that I have this diamond in my possession at the end of this month."  
  
"And how will you do that?" Rouge knew where this conversation was going.  
  
"Oh, I'm not going to do anything," Niagera replied. He started grinning like and idiot. "You are."  
  
Rouge narrowed her eyes. "I know where this is going! You want me to do your dirty work, don't you? Well, for your information, I work alone." She got out of the chair and began to leave the room.  
  
"Fine. Your loss, though."  
  
Rouge rolled her eyes, turned around and placed her hands on her hips. "My loss? How can I lose anything when you're the one getting the diamond? Hmm?  
  
"Because I'll pay you three hundred million dollars," Niagera said, smirking and chewing on his cigar. "Well?" Rouge stood there, dumbfounded. "Not only that, but I'll give you another twenty million just for saying yes. Then, when I get the diamond, I'll pay you, along with the three hundred million, half of the gem's value!"  
  
Rouge's heart skipped a beat. "And what..is half its value?"  
  
Niagera finished chewing his cigar and spit the remaining stud into a gold- rimmed wastebasket next to his desk. "About, I'd say, two billion."  
  
Rouge lost her balance and fell onto the floor. "Plus," Niagera continued, grinning from ear to ear, "You get every diamond and other gem you find along the way." 'This is going perfectly,' he thought, mentally chuckling.  
  
Rouge crawled to the desk and pulled herself onto the chair. "Where do I sign?" she asked, gasping for air.  
  
Niagera's grin couldn't get any bigger. "Sign here." He handed Rouge a check for twenty million dollars. It said 'Pay TWENTY MILLION dollars to the order of.." Rouge signed her name on the dotted line. Then she quickly stuffed the check into her purse.  
  
"That's it?" she asked.  
  
Niagera nodded. "Yep. Welcome to The Niagera Corporation!" He extended his arm and shook Rouge's hand.  
  
***  
  
Niagera led Rouge to the front doors. "Pleasure doing business with you, Miss Rouge," he said. "Oh, and please join me at my company banquet on Tuesday. It's to commemorate the business's thirtieth anniversary. Please, bring friends and whatnot."  
  
"Of course, sir," Rouge said as she walked outside. "See you on Tuesday." And with that, she spread her wings and flew away.  
  
Niagera watched her until she was out of eyesight. His huge smile quickly turned into a scowl. He slammed the oak doors and turned to find his robotic butler still lying on the floor. Niagera kicked it and the machine started buzzing again.  
  
"System error, rebooting in process," the robot said. "Butler unit James operating at maximum efficiency."  
  
"Save it," Niagera spat.  
  
"My apologies, Master Dredmond, I should never have let that woman into your house," James (the robot) replied. It started hovering again and brushed itself off.  
  
"No, I thank you for bringing her into my house," Niagera said. "She just signed with my company." His scowl turned into a maniacal smirk. "She's going to find Hell's Jewel!"  
  
James clapped his metallic hands. "Congratulations, sir. Your life's dream will finally come true."  
  
"That it will, James," Niagera replied. "And that stupid bat is walking right into my trap." He chuckled for a long time before finishing his sentence. "She has no idea what she's getting herself into!"  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
There, the long slow introduction to my story has been completed. A whole ten pages on the word processor. Congratulate yourself on getting through it alive. What is Rouge getting herself into, anyway?  
  
All reviews accepted! 


	2. Billionaire Banquet

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Before I continue the story, let me point out that I made some spelling errors in the first chapter: When I says, 'He started to get fidgety a rubbed his hands together,' that 'a' should be an 'and.' Also, when it says, 'He started grinning like and idiot,' that 'and' should be an 'an.' Just thought I'd point that out.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter #1.  
  
Chapter 2: Billionaire Banquet  
  
Sonic the hedgehog climbed up to the top of the high dive board at Big the cat's new swimming pool. "Cannonball!" He jumped and landed right in the middle of the pool, splashing everyone and causing a small tidal wave.  
  
Shadow the hedgehog was knocked off of his float and was dumped into the water. "Sonic! I've told you once I've told you a thousand times! I can't swim!"  
  
Sonic's head popped out of the water. "Then why are you in the pool?" he asked, smirking.  
  
"Because---I just am," Shadow mumbled, getting back onto his float.  
  
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Wow, what a comeback."  
  
Amy Rose finished inflating a beach ball and tossed it to Tails, who was floating in the pool. She turned to Big, who was resting on a lawn chair and sipping tequila. "It was really nice of you to have this pool installed," she said. "Aren't you coming in?"  
  
Big shook his head. "Oh, no. I hate the water." Amy gave him a curious look.  
  
Knuckles was sitting high up in the lifeguard's chair......asleep. "Hey, Knux," Sonic called. "Come on down and save Shadow, he can't swim!"  
  
Knuckles lazily opened one eye and threw his sunscreen tube at Sonic. "Can't you see I'm resting?" He yawned, stretched his arms, and jumped off of his platform. He landed next to Big and poured himself a drink. Before he could take a sip, a loud car horn made everyone jump. Knuckles turned around to see an expensive white Lamborghini with a red stripe down the center pull up next to the pool. "Wow," he mumbled. "I wonder who that belongs to?"  
  
The car halted to a stop. Curious, everyone got out of the pool and walked up to the car. The tinted window rolled down to reveal none other than Rouge the bat, smiling and sitting comfortably in the driver's seat. "Hello everyone," she said.  
  
"Whoa, nice ride!" Sonic said, checking out the vehicle. "How the heck could you afford something like this?"  
  
Rouge turned the engine off and exited the car. "It's a long story," she said. "Is Knucklehead here?"  
  
Shadow moved to let Knuckles see the car. He was just standing there with his mouth hanging open, stunned. Rouge smirked and walked up to him. "Remember out bet?" she asked. "Well, looks like I won!"  
  
"Wait, you actually got a bunch of jewels out of Dredmond Manor?" Knuckles managed to choke out. "But......how?"  
  
"Well, I admit I got caught. But when I told the owner that I was a treasure hunter, he went nuts and offered me the chance of a lifetime!"  
  
"Which was?" Shadow asked.  
  
Rouge shrugged. "Eh, he just wants me to find some old diamond for him. But, as you can see," she said, gesturing to her car, "He's paying me handsomely."  
  
"How much?" Amy asked.  
  
"He gave me twenty million to say 'yes,' then he's going to pay me three hundred million when I find it as well as half of the jewel's value!" Rouge said, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Which is?" Sonic asked.  
  
"Two billion big ones!"  
  
Everyone lost their balance and fell to the ground. "You can't be serious!" Big exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, I'm serious," Rouge replied. "In fact, I came to ask you guys if you wanted to come to his company banquet tonight. I'm the guest of honor and he said I could bring as many friends as I want."  
  
Everyone thought for a moment. "Hmm......sit at home and do nothing......meet the richest man in the world," Tails evaluated. "I'm there!"  
  
"Me too!" Amy called.  
  
"Count us in," Shadow and Sonic said in unison.  
  
"Great! I'll arrange for a limo to pick you up tonight at Sonic's house," Rouge said. "Be there by eight, and don't be late!" (Hey, that rhymed.) She turned to Big. "How about you?"  
  
Big shook his head. "Sorry, the Giligan's Island marathon is on tonight. I've never missed a Giligan's Island marathon."  
  
Rouge rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Oh, and Knucklehead? I expect to see you there as well. And you can keep your emerald, you need at least one thing of value on that island of yours." She winked at him and climbed back into her car. "Tootles!" And with that, the expensive sports car drove away.  
  
"Wow, a Billionaire Banquet," Tails said. "I can't wait!"  
  
"Me neither," Amy agreed. "I've always wanted to spend some time with the upper class."  
  
"I'll have to dig that old tuxedo out of my closet again," Shadow grumbled. "How about you, Knuckles?"  
  
Knuckles was staring at the spot where Rouge had just been standing. Anger was building inside of him. He balled his fists and shook them in anger. "SHE ALWAYS WINS! No matter what happens, she always seems to get the upper hand!" He started running after the car, but Shadow and Sonic held him back.  
  
"Hey, easy there amigo," Sonic said.  
  
"I'll kill her! I'll kill her again and again and again until I can't kill her anymore!" Knuckles roared. "It's not fair! I have to spend my whole damn life guarding that stupid emerald for nothing! And then she comes along, tries to steal it and becomes filthy rich!" He collapsed to the floor and banged his fists against the ground.  
  
"Knuckles get a hold of yourself!" Sonic said. "It doesn't matter that she's fortunate and you're not."  
  
Knuckles turned around and glared at him. "Then what does matter, pray tell?" he hissed.  
  
Sonic thought. "Well, okay. Maybe it does matter. But that's not the point. The point is......we get to go to a party tonight!" He gave Tails and Shadow a high-five.  
  
Knuckles took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Fine," he said. "I'll come, but I'm not going to like it."  
  


* * *

  
The day turned into dusk, which turned into night and the limo had yet to come pick up the gang to take them to the banquet. "Where is she?" Shadow asked, trying to get the tie on his black tuxedo to stay straight. "She said the limo would pick us up at eight!"  
  
Tails was waiting outside with Shadow, also wearing a black tuxedo, watching him straighten his tie. "You should've worn a clip-on. The last time I wore a real tie, I almost strangled myself."  
  
"Hello," someone said from behind them. Shadow and Tails spun around to see Knuckles standing behind them, also wearing.......a black tuxedo. "I take it you forgot to wear a clip-on again, Shadow?"  
  
Shadow merely mumbled something in response to Knuckles and continued to adjust his tie. Suddenly, a blue blur past all three and stopped next to Tails. It was Sonic (also wearing a black tuxedo). "What took you so long?" Shadow asked.  
  
Sonic shrugged. "There was traffic," he said, and handed out some expensive looking watches to Shadow and Tails.  
  
"Where'd you get those?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"We asked Sonic to run into the city to get us some fake Rolexes," Tails said, adjusting his watch. "If we're gonna' spend time with the rich people, we might as well look fancy ourselves."  
  
Amy suddenly came running out of the house in a long, pink dress. She was still applying her eyeliner. "I'm here!" she called, and came to a halt next to Sonic. "Wow, Sonic, you look quite fancy," she said, smiling.  
  
Sonic put his hand up and shook his head. "Not tonight."  
  
"Humph!"  
  
"So," Shadow said. "I guess we just wait?"  
  
"If the limo is delayed, we'll just say that we're fashionably late," Tails said.  
  
Suddenly, a super stretched Cadillac Escalade limousine pulled up in front of Sonic's house. The limo's horn sounded and the back door opened. Rouge poked her head out and gestured for them to get in. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Tails and Amy all got into the limo. "What do you think?" Rouge asked. She was wearing a long, red kimono-ish dress and lots of jewelry.  
  
The limo was about thirty feet long. Inside were two long leather seats, a bar and an entertainment system. The floor was padded a dark red carpet and the walls were lined with veneer panels. The roof was a mirror lined with multicolored neon lights.  
  
"Awesome!" Tails exclaimed, throwing himself into the soft leather seat.  
  
Shadow sat down next to Tails and poured himself a coke from the bar. "Very convenient," he observed.  
  
Sonic also threw himself into the seat and stretched his arms and legs. "Love the leg room."  
  
Amy sat next to Sonic and leaned against him. "If only we were the only two people in this limo," she said dreamily.  
  
"I said not tonight!"  
  
"So, I take it you like my limo?" Rouge asked. "It's the best that money can buy." She quickly turned around to see Knuckles admiring her kimono. "Like my dress, Knucklehead?" she asked, cocking and eyebrow and smiling.  
  
Knuckles quickly turned away from her. "Yeah, right," he mumbled and took the last seat left in the limo. Rouge sat next to him and grinned. Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I know you won the deal, you don't have to rub it in!"  
  
Rouge chuckled and pressed a button on a small intercom to the driver's seat. "To the mansion." Everyone felt the limo start to move and head toward Dredmond Manor. "We should be there in ten minutes, miss," came the driver's reply.  
  
Shadow refilled his coke. "So tell us, Rouge, who exactly is this person you're working for?"  
  
Rouge poured herself a glass of ice water and began. "The first thing you should know is that he's a duck, not a human. His name is Niagera Patterson Dredmond the Third, richest man in the world," she said.  
  
Tails' ears perked up when Rouge said her boss's name. "Wait......THE Niagera P. Dredmond the Third?"  
  
"The one and only."  
  
"Wow! He's one of the greatest inventors of modern times! He's responsible for all sorts of revolutions in mechanical and atomic mining equipment and electrical distribution equipment. He INVENTED the process for making synthetic sound waves! Did you know that he made his first billion dollars at age eighteen?"  
  
Everyone looked at Tails. "I take it you'd like to meet this guy," Sonic said.  
  
Tails jumped up onto the seat. "Would I ever! I'd like to talk to him about my inventions. If I'm lucky, I might be able to impress him. I might even be able to get him to sign my copy of 'Mechanics Today' magazine."  
  
Amy peered through the tinted window and saw a gigantic mansion looming over them. "Wow, is that his house?"  
  
The limo stopped and the side door automatically opened. Rouge was the first to get out. James (the robotic butler) hovered up to the limo and greeted everyone. "Welcome to Dredmond Manor, Miss Rouge. Master Dredmond has asked me to escort you and your friends to the banquet hall," it said in its computerized, monotone voice.  
  


* * *

  
Sonic gaped at the forty-foot ceilings. "This place is huge!" Everyone was in the banquet hall. It was a huge marble room with long tables set up at each end, each piled high with food for the guests. Large crystal chandeliers illuminated the room. There were hundreds of guests, most of them human but some were various animals such as hedgehogs. Several robotic servants were hovering around the room handing out drinks.  
  
"I never knew that Mr. Dredmond lived in such luxury," Tails said. "From his biography I got the idea that he lived in a small house."  
  
Shadow took a drink from one of the servants. "Well, what did you expect? He's the richest man in the world."  
  
Amy had already started up a conversation with one of the guests. Knuckles was standing around, glancing back and forth between the people and the food. Rouge walked up to him with a smirk on her face. "How's it going, Knucklehead?"  
  
Knuckles rolled his eyes and turned around to see Rouge smirking at him. "I'll have you know, bat-girl, that I only came because I had nothing to do tonight."  
  
Before Rouge could respond, she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder. "Ah! Miss Rouge, glad you could make it." Rouge spun around to see Niagera P. Dredmond grinning down at her. He was wearing his usual black suit and gold watch. "Did you bring anyone with you?"  
  
"Yes, sir, they're over there," Rouge said, gesturing for Shadow, Sonic and Tails to come over.  
  
Tails was the first to come. "Wow! Niagera Dredmond himself!" he exclaimed, furiously shaking Niagera's hand. "My name is Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails. It's such an honor to meet a great inventor such as yourself! I do some mechanical work myself, if you'd like, I can show you the designs to my inventions. I have tons of blueprints to—"  
  
"That's quite alright, Mr. Prower," Niagera interrupted, forcing a smile and trying to escape the grasp of Tails' handshake. "Right now I'd like to meet the rest of your group."  
  
Tails was grinning from ear to ear as he let Shadow meet Niagera. "This is Shadow," Rouge said, pushing Shadow up to shake Niagera's hand.  
  
Niagera extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Shadow."  
  
Shadow shook Niagera's hand and smiled slightly. "No need for the 'Mr.' I'm just Shadow."  
  
Sonic walked up carrying a silver platter piled high with chilidogs. "Hi! I'm Thonic the hedgehog. Nithe to meet you," he said through a mouth full of food. Small pieces of his chilidog flew all Niagera as he spoke. "My complimenth to your chef."  
  
Niagera brushed the food off of his suit. "Yes," he mumbled. "A real pleasure."  
  
"And this," Rouge pushed Knuckles up to Niagera. "Is Knuckles the echidna."  
  
Niagera cocked an eyebrow. "Knuckles? Interesting name, but nonetheless, nice to meet you." He outstretched his hand.  
  
Knuckles narrowed his eyes a bit and hesitated before shaking Niagera' hand. "Hello," he said, flatly. "Nice to meet you."  
  
Niagera pulled his hand away from Knuckles and studied him. Knuckles did the same. There was something about this duck that he didn't like. It was as if Niagera had a façade of kindness covering something else up.  
  
Niagera reached into his pocket and pressed a small button on a remote. It signaled to James, who hovered over to the group. "Phone call, Master Dredmond. I believe it's urgent," the butler said.  
  
"Ah, that annoying phone," Niagera said. "Well, Rouge, while I do wish I could stay and chat with your friends I must answer this call. I'll be back in a few minutes. Please, do as your friend Sonic and stuff your face."  
  
Knuckles watched Niagera walk away and disappear into the crowd. 'Something seems fishy. I'd better go see what this guy's up to,' he thought.  
  


* * *

  
"Argh! That's the last time I hold a fake smile for more than ten minutes," Niagera growled, massaging his beak. "I think my jaw has gone numb!"  
  
He and James were in a small room that connected to the banquet hall. The room hadn't been used in a long time, as the furniture was dusty and the light bulbs in the lamps needed changing.  
  
James was hovering in the corner of the room. "You gave me the signal. What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
Niagera scowled and adjusted his watch. "Rouge's company, that's what."  
  
"You don't like them?"  
  
"Hmm—Mr. Prower seems likeable, but that red echidna......what was his name? Ankles?" Niagera thought for a moment. "Knuckles! I think he knows something."  
  
"I get the feeling that what he knows might be something against you?" James inquired.  
  
Niagera gave up on adjusting his watch and set it down on a dusty coffee table. "He sees right through me. That's a problem. If he somehow finds out about Hell's Jewel, I'm all washed up," he said and began to pace back and forth.  
  
James processed this information. "Tell Miss Rouge not to mention the jewel to Master Knuckles. Perhaps then he will not be able to do anything to interfere with your plan," he suggested.  
  
Niagera stopped pacing and glanced at James. "That's the problem. Rouge is just like my niece: crafty, sneaky, and otherwise untrustworthy."  
  
"So what do you propose we do?"  
  
"If she is able to find the jewel, she might not give it to me," Niagera continued. "There's only one solution to that problem. When she does find the gem......"  
  
"Yes?" James asked, eager to know his master's plan.  
  
Niagera's scowl turned into an evil smile. "We exterminate her."  
  
"Error, sir. My processor concludes that murder is illegal," James responded. "You cannot get away with murder."  
  
"I've gotten away with everything since day one!" Niagera roared. "That's the power of money, it corrupts people. Makes people keep quiet."  
  
"Very well, sir. What do you do if she is unable to find the jewel?"  
  
"We can't risk anything. We exterminate her either way," Niagera finished. "Now, if you'll excuse me, James, I must get back to my banquet." He started heading for the door when he stopped and glanced back at his butler. "This conversation never happened, got that?"  
  
"Affirmative," James replied.  
  


* * *

  
Knuckles' mouth was hanging open. What in hell had he just heard? Exterminate Rouge? Master plan? Suddenly, the knob on the big oak door turned. Knuckles backed away and the door opened. Niagera stepped out. He saw Knuckles standing right next to him and put on a nervous smile.  
  
"Knuckles, am I correct? How do you like the banquet?" Niagera asked, nervously chuckling. "There's a casino in the basement. You're free to use it if you wish, as long as you ask James for some tokens first."  
  
Knuckles didn't respond. Instead, he narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're up to, and you'd better keep Rouge out of it!"  
  
Niagera cocked an eyebrow. "Come again? Have you been drinking, because I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!" Knuckles snarled.  
  
The confused look on Niagera's face was replaced with the meanest sneer Knuckles had ever seen. "I don't know what you're getting at, echidna. But you'd better keep out of my business, or I'll have more lawyers and lawsuits on you than there are flies on dog crap." And with that, the billionaire walked away.  
  
Knuckles was left staring at the spot previously occupied by Niagera. Oh yes, this duck was up to something horrible, and Knuckles was going to get to the bottom of it.  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
Second chapter done. Third will be up in a week or so. I'm aware that this is going along slowly, but lots of action will be in the next chapter, I promise!  
  
All reviews accepted! 


	3. Long Arm of the Law

Wow, I got done with this chapter faster than I thought I would. Once again, thanks for all the reviews! For RI2(), I laughed out loud at your review (Lousy billionaires, you can never trust them.) It was great!  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter #1.  
  
Chapter 3: Long Arm of the Law  
  
Knuckles couldn't sleep. Niagera's words tumbled around in his head. What did he mean exterminate her? And what's with that jewel he was talking about? Knuckles knew that there was something up with Niagera, and the little statement about the lawyers and dog crap made it even more obvious that this guy was dangerous, determined and meant business.  
  
Knuckles finally dozed off near six o'clock in the morning. He only slept for two more hours, though. The jewel popped into his head again. "Maybe if I find out what he wants with that jewel, I can figure out what he's going to do to Rouge," he said to himself. "But what was that jewel's name? Hmm, maybe Rouge told Sonic. I'd better go ask him."  
  


* * *

  
Tails lazily poured himself a glass of milk to go with his cornflakes. It was ten o'clock. He and Amy were still dog-tired. Sonic, on the other hand, was already jumping around like a bean. "So, what's on the agenda for today? The aquarium? Twinkle Park? Defeating Eggman?"  
  
"Uhhh......" Tails managed to mumble as he tiredly ate his breakfast.  
  
"It's too early for anything," Said Amy. "I'm tired and that banquet last night drained me."  
  
Sonic shrugged. "Party pooper. I'm gonna go watch some TV." He walked into the living room. Before he could switch on the TV, a loud knock came from the front door. "Who could be visiting this early?" Sonic got up off the couch and opened the door. "Oh, hey Knux. What's up?"  
  
Knuckles walked past Sonic and into the living room. "A lot is up. Last night at the banquet, I overheard that Niagera guy talking."  
  
"What about?" Sonic asked. "His money?" He fell on the floor laughing.  
  
"No, not his money," Knuckles growled. "Something about extermination and a jewel. And I think Rouge is mixing herself up into it."  
  
Sonic somehow managed to stop laughing at his 'hilarious' joke and his expression turned serious. "Really? How come?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Listen, did Rouge tell you the name if this rare jewel she was hired to find?"  
  
Sonic thought for a moment. "I think she said something like......Hell's Diamond? Gem? Jewel? Yeah, that's it, Hell's Jewel!"  
  
Knuckles' jaw dropped. "Hell's Jewel? Are you serious?"  
  
"That's what she said," Sonic replied, giving Knuckles an odd look.  
  
Knuckles started pacing back and forth. "This is bad. This is really bad."  
  
"Hold on! It's just some old diamond," said Sonic, stopping Knuckles from pacing. "It's no big deal."  
  
"That's what you think! I happen to know a lot more about his jewel than you do," Knuckles hissed. "When the seven Chaos Emeralds were created, an eighth jewel was also made. But this one was a diamond."  
  
"An eighth Chaos Emerald?"  
  
"No, far from it. This diamond contained powers far beyond anyone's comprehension. If someone found out how to harness its power, they could do anything they wanted. For instance, they could make it rain Steinway pianos for the rest of eternity," Knuckles explained. "The jewel was supposed to be a back up for the Master Emerald, but when its power was discovered, it was locked away by the ancient echidnas. They hoped no one would ever find it."  
  
"So if Niagera is able to get this diamond, he could take over the world and manipulate people as he pleases?" Sonic asked.  
  
"He could take over the world a thousand times a thousand different ways in a thousand different dimensions with Hell's Jewel," Knuckles said. "We can't let that happen!"  
  
"Relax, Knux." Sonic went back over to the couch and sat down. "If this diamond has been locked away for as long as you say it has and no one's ever found it, then what makes you think Rouge will? Or Niagera?"  
  
"Because Rouge now has access to all kinds of mining equipment and gem- finding technology," Knuckles shouted. "All supplied by Niagera's company!" He suddenly froze. "I have to warn her. She can't find Hell's Jewel for that lunatic or we're all domed." And with that, the red echidna ran out of Sonic's house and toward the direction of Station Square.  
  
Tails and Amy rushed into the living room. "We heard Knuckles shouting about something," Tails said. "What's the problem?"  
  
Sonic shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure. Knuckles can be very confusing."  
  


* * *

  
Station Square on a Monday morning. Not a pretty sight. Tons of people and cars jammed the city's sidewalks and roads. People trying to get to work, who were late to work and people who were just slacking off.  
  
In the center of Station Square's business district stood the N Building, headquarters of The Niagera Corporation. The sixty story tall, white washed building was very modern looking, with lots of glass, architectural arches everywhere and topped off by a large upper case letter 'N.'  
  
Knuckles pushed himself through the throng of people until he came to the front of the building. He saw Niagera's black Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limo parked right outside the front doors. "Show off," Knuckles mumbled as he watched people turn to look at the classical car.  
  
He walked through the automatic sliding front doors and into the N Building's lobby. It was similar to Dredmond Manor; the floor was a red carpet, high ceilings and several marble columns to support the upper floors. Tall windows lined the walls and let lots of light flood the room.  
  
Knuckles walked up to the front desk, behind which sat a short, stout woman: The secretary. "Hi," Knuckles said, trying to act casual. "I'm looking for Miss Rouge the bat. She works here, brand new employee."  
  
The secretary pushed her glasses up onto her large nose and punched Rouge's name into her computer. "Take the express elevator to the seventh floor, follow the hallway all the way until you come to a door next to a water cooler. Room 715." She pointed to one of the four express elevators in the corner of the lobby.  
  
Knuckles nodded and entered the elevator. It was very fancy, with a carpeted floor and walls lined with dark veneer panels. "Floor number?" came a computerized voice.  
  
"Seven," Knuckles responded. He felt the elevator begin to move. Less than ten seconds later, the doors opened to reveal the hallway of the seventh floor. "That was fast," he said as he exited the contraption. He jumped when he heard the elevator's doors slam shut.  
  
Knuckles continued to walk down the hallway, passing dozens of doors and a few employees. Finally, he came to a water cooler. The door next to it read '715.' He knocked twice.  
  
"Come in," came a feminine voice from behind the door. Knuckles turned the knob and opened the door. Rouge was sitting behind a large desk wearing a formal business suit. Her workspace was piled high with maps, computer printouts and a small machine that generated holographic images. "Knuckles? What brings you here?"  
  
Knuckles walked into the large office and glanced at all the equipment. "Gem finding technology, if I'm not mistaken?"  
  
Rouge nodded. "Yeah, now tell me why you're here? The boss doesn't like visitors."  
  
Knuckles narrowed his eyes and glared at Rouge, who glared back. "I'm here to tell you the huge mistake you're making right now. You obviously have no idea what you're getting yourself into."  
  
Rouge rolled her eyes and got up. She walked right up to knuckles and stuck her face directly in his line of vision. "Pft! Leave it to you to tell me making millions of dollars is a mistake," she said.  
  
"I'm serious, Rouge. I heard that boss of yours talking yesterday. He's a lunatic. You're walking right into a trap, I know it!" Knuckles shouted. "He wants to exterminate you!"  
  
Rouge rolled her eyes again and sat down behind her desk. "Well, if he wants to 'exterminate' me, why doesn't do it right now instead of waiting?" she said with a smirk.  
  
"He's waiting until you get him Hell's Jewel, which, I might add, holds awesome powers that could be used to destroy the world," Knuckles said.  
  
"Awesome powers? What is this, The Lord of The Rings?" Rouge grumbled. "Get out of my office before I call security!"  
  
Knuckles slammed his fists down onto her desk. "I'm completely serious! You have no idea what you're doing, as usual. Your mistake might cost us our lives!"  
  
Rouge simply pointed to the door. "Out."  
  
Knuckles waved his hands in the air. "Fine! But don't come crying to me when he tries to kill you!"  
  


* * *

  
From his office up on the sixtieth floor, Niagera P. Dredmond the Third watched, with an expressionless look on his face, the footage from a hidden camera in Rouge's office. He pressed a button on his remote and the TV shut off. "That echidna is getting to be a pain in the patella," he said.  
  
James hovered over to Niagera and gave him a glass of water. "What do you propose we do, Master Dredmond?"  
  
Niagera took the glass and studied it. A smile formed on his beak. "He's gotten a little to far into my business for comfort. We have to lock him up and throw away the key."  
  
"We abduct him?"  
  
Niagera shook his head. "No, I've got a better idea." He reached over and pressed a button on his desk's intercom. "Mrs. Billings? Call the police! There's a robbery in progress! Some red echidna has just broke into Miss Rouge's office and stolen the security codes to our safes."  
  
Mrs. Billings, the secretary at the front desk, responded. "Right away, Mr. Dredmond."  
  
Niagera took his finger off the intercom button and chuckled. "Let's see that echidna bother us anymore now. Come, James! To the lobby."  
  


* * *

  
Knuckles stormed out of the express elevator and through the lobby to the front door. "The nerve of that—oh! I need to get my mind off the whole thing. I nice hot shower should do it."  
  
He walked through the automatic sliding doors to find a dozen police cars and a few helicopters in front of the building. "Knuckles the echidna, don't move! We have you surrounded!" a cop said through a megaphone.  
  
Niagera was standing outside with James hovering next to him. "That's him! He's the one who threatened an employee with a gun and stole our security codes!" he shouted.  
  
One cop started to step forward with a gun and pair of handcuffs raised. "Don't make this hard for us, just put your hands in the air," he said.  
  
Knuckles stared at the cops. "Wait, I didn't steal anything, I don't even have a gun!" The cops didn't listen. They kept aiming their rifles at him. 'This is that damn duck's doing! I've got to get out of here,' he thought. Without warning, Knuckles took of as fast as he could to get away from the cops.  
  
"After him!" Niagera cried, climbing into his Rolls-Royce. The cops followed his lead and started chasing after Knuckles with their sirens blaring.  
  
Knuckles looked back to see a dozen cars chasing after him. "Oh, crap! How do I loose these guys?" He ran into several people and knocked them over. 'Gotta get away from the crowd.'  
  
He escaped the throng of people and stopped in the middle of an alleyway between two buildings. He watched as the police cars and Niagera's limo passed the alley. "There, that wasn't so tough." Suddenly, he heard an engine. Knuckles looked up to see three cops jump out of a helicopter hovering high above him.  
  
"Sheesh, don't these guys give up?" Knuckles dashed out of the alley and right into the plain sight of two police cars with their lights flashing. "This is just like a video game!" He ran like hell in the opposite direction of the cars. The helicopter was still following him. He turned a corner and ran into the middle of the street, stopping the traffic and causing an accident. One police car slammed on its brakes and flipped over.  
  
"Now I'm in trouble," Knuckles gasped as he continued to run down the street. Finally, he came to a halt by an old, dumpy park near the bad side of Station Square. "Maybe I can hide here," he said, gasping for air. Then he saw two cop cars heading for him at full speed. "Okay, maybe I can't." He suddenly felt two bullets whiz past him, barely touching his fur. "God, now they're shooting me?"  
  
Knuckles zoomed out of the park and back onto the road, stopping even more traffic. A few more bullets whizzed past him. 'I wish Sonic was here right now.' He looked back at the two cars and smiled when he saw they were being left behind. Grinning, he turned his head around......just in time smack into the grille of another police car. "Gotcha!" he heard a cop say.  
  
Knuckles tried to ignore the searing pain as a cop scraped him off the front grille and handcuffed him. "You're looking at some hard time. Threatening people with a gun, stealing security codes and causing accidents," the cop hissed.  
  
More cars arrived and more cops got out. Niagera's limo arrived and parked right next to the car holding Knuckles. Niagera got out and walked over to him. "You! I should've known you would go ahead and interfere with my business! Despicable little wench!" Niagera slapped Knuckles hard across the face. "And threatening Miss Rouge with a gun!"  
  
"I don't have a gun!" knuckles roared.  
  
"Really?" the cop asked. "Then what's this?" He held up a 44-Magnum handgun. "These are illegal, you know. Can't even have one with a license."  
  
Knuckles gaped at the gun. "But—that's not mine! How......?" He saw Niagera quickly move his suit to one side to reveal a gun holster. He smirked and climbed back into his limo.  
  


* * *

  
Knuckles leaned against the bars of his cell in Station Square Prison. "Well, this has been a fine day, hasn't it?" he growled.  
  
"You've got a visitor, echidna," a guard mumbled.  
  
Sonic, Tails, Amy and Shadow ran up to Knuckle's cell. "What happened?" Sonic demanded.  
  
"Two words: Rouge's boss," Knuckles said. "He claims I threatened his employees with a gun and stole security codes to his safes!"  
  
"Did you?" Tails asked.  
  
"NO!"  
  
"You could've just shown the cops that you didn't have a gun on you," Shadow piped up.  
  
"Apparently, I did," Knuckles growled. Everyone gasped. "Niagera must've snuck his handgun onto me when the cop was interrogating me."  
  
"Don't worry, Knuckles. We're here to bail you out!" Amy exclaimed.  
  
"They set the bail to forty thousand dollars," Knuckles mumbled. Amy sighed. "Look, Rouge ignored the fact that she's helping a madman. She wouldn't listen to my warning."  
  
"What warning?" Shadow inquired.  
  
"I don't have time to explain. Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, it's up to you to find Hell's Jewel before Rouge does. Keep it safe from her and Niagera won't get his hands on it," Knuckles urged. "If he doesn't have it, we can consider the world safe from total chaos."  
  
"What chaos?" Amy and Tails asked.  
  
"Sonic will explain later. Listen, you must find the jewel as soon as possible!"  
  
Sonic gave him the thumbs-up. "You can count on me!" He thought for a moment. "Hey—wait a minute! This thing's been hidden for thousands of years and no one's ever found it. How do you expect us to find it?"  
  
"I know where it is. The ancient echidna ruins. There is a small trap door next to the gold statue at the entrance. That leads to Hell's Chamber. Be careful, it's booby trapped with powerful guards. And be careful not to touch the jewel unless you're wearing gloves!" knuckles instructed. "Now, go! Quickly!"  
  
"We won't let you down!" Tails said as he and the others ran down the hallway and out of the prison. Knuckles watched them leave and then sat down on the bed in his cell.  
  
The guard watched them leave and pulled out a cell phone. He speed-dialed a long number. "Hello? Miss Rouge? I've got it. The ancient echidna ruins."  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
Oh, cliffhanger! Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the other two.  
  
All reviews accepted! 


	4. Hell's Jewel

Once again, thanks for all the reviews! Note: This is a LONG chapter. Remember to go to the bathroom, because once you start reading you're not gonna want to stop!  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter #1.  
  
Chapter 4: Hell's Jewel  
  
Sonic, Amy, Tails and Shadow struggled to get through the thick vines of the jungle, which was home to the echidna ruins. "So, what's with this 'total chaos' and jewel hunting, Sonic?" Shadow asked.  
  
"Well, apparently, Rouge's boss, Niagera, is a madman who wants to take over the world," Sonic responded.  
  
"Gee, how original."  
  
Sonic cut through a large vine and let everyone pass him. "This jewel he's after is supposed to have 'powers beyond comprehension.' If Niagera gets his hands on this jewel, he has the power to do whatever he wants, like making it rain Steinway pianos for all eternity. So, we have to find the jewel first to keep it safe from him."  
  
"Steinway pianos? Her boss must really be weird."  
  
"That's it?" Tails asked. "That's all we're doing? Hiding a jewel from some lunatic, who just happens to be one of the greatest inventors in modern times?"  
  
Sonic shook his head. "No. It's not as simple as it sounds. Knuckles told me that this jewel is heavily guarded to make sure that no one ever gets to it."  
  
"So then if no one can find it then why do we have to keep it safe in the first place?" Amy, who was lagging behind slightly, asked.  
  
"This better be worth the trouble, Sonic," Shadow mumbled. "I planned on staying home today and watching Star Wars."  
  
Sonic rolled his eyes. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the first ruin. It was nothing but a large, moss-covered rock with writing carved into it. "Well, at least we know we're going in the right direction," Tails said.  
  
The group continued to walk for another ten minutes through the jungle before coming to the echidna ruins. "This is it," Sonic said, pointing to a moss-covered gold statue. "Knux said that the jewel is under some trap door next to this thing."  
  
"Lets start looking," said Amy, wiping some moss off of the statue. The group looked around the statue, pushing moss off of everything they could and pulling up every loose rock they could find. Suddenly, Tails uncovered a gold ring under a large heavy rock. "Hey, I think I found something," he called.  
  
Shadow studied the ring. "It might be a handle, I'll pull it." He grabbed the ring and started pulling. Nothing happened. "Sonic, give me a hand."  
  
Sonic also grabbed the ring and started pulling. Still nothing. Amy and Tails joined in. Soon, they felt the ground shake, and the handle budged. The trap door swung open, almost throwing them into the statue.  
  
The group peered down a long, dark shaft. Tails took out a multi-beam flashlight from his knapsack. "This looks dangerous. There's nothing to hold onto for a descent, or ascent for that matter," he said, shining the flashlight's beam on the walls of the shaft.  
  
Amy thought for a moment. "Hey, Shadow, don't you still have those hover shoes?"  
  
"Yes," Shadow replied, lifting a foot so Amy could see his shoes.  
  
"You could slowly hover down there and bring us with you, if we're not too heavy."  
  
"It's worth a shot," Sonic said. "Shadow, fire up your shoes!"  
  
***  
  
Minutes later, the group was at the bottom of the shaft, breathing heavily. "Shadow, NEVER do that again! Turing off your shoes for a moment, outrageous!" Tails bellowed.  
  
Shadow just laughed. "Come on, it was just a joke!"  
  
Sonic took Tails' multi-beam flashlight and shined it on the walls. They were in a long, dusty corridor. "So far so good," he said. "I haven't seen any guardians yet."  
  
"You don't think Knuckles was exaggerating?" Amy suggested.  
  
Sonic shook his head. "Nope. I've known him for years and he never does anything like that."  
  
"So, I guess we just continue down this long, dark, eerie, cob-web filled hallway until we find the jewel?" Amy asked, annoyed.  
  
"Don't be such a sissy," Tails mumbled. "Come on, let's go."  
  
The group started walking down the long corridor, the only source of light being Tails' multi-beam flashlight. The hall's cold, stone walls were covered with the ancient echidna writing. Tails stopped when he saw a picture of a large jewel carved into the wall. "This must be Hell's Jewel," he said, pointing to the picture. "And look! Next to the jewel is a picture of some kind of giant."  
  
Shadow studied the picture. "This must be the guardian that Knuckles was talking about," he observed. "It seems as if we're going to have to defeat him to get the jewel."  
  
"These things were made thousands of years ago. I'm sure the guardian is dead, whatever it was," Sonic assured the group. "Come on, we have to hurry."  
  
"We can't go any farther," Amy said. "Look!" She pointed to a solid stonewall a short way down the corridor. "It's a dead end."  
  
"Great!" Shadow bellowed. "I knew this was a waste time. The jewel was probably stuck in the wall, right in that carving, and the picture of the giant was probably meant to scare intruders away."  
  
"So what happened to the jewel?" Tails asked, cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"It probably eroded away over time."  
  
"Diamonds can't erode! They are the hardest substance on the planet. Nothing can scratch a diamond, except another diamond, and nothing can eat away at a diamond," Amy said. Everyone gave her an odd look. "Hey, I'm a girl. I have to know my jewelry."  
  
Sonic started to feel around the wall. "No, Knuckles wouldn't make us come here for nothing. There must be some secret chamber....." He put his hand on the carving of the jewel. The carving began to glow and the stonewall started to slowly move to one side. "Ha! Works every time!"  
  
The wall moved to one side and revealed a huge chamber. The ceiling was at least thirty feet high and the walls were covered in sheets of gold that reflected the light from Tails' flashlight. The whole ovular room was lit up. At the far end was a large golden shrine. On top of that was a gold box embroidered with ivory and gold lace.  
  
"That must be where the jewel is," said Amy.  
  
Sonic started walking toward the shrine. "Pft! This was too easy. Maybe Knux was exaggerating about the guardian."  
  
"Sonic, I wouldn't go too far," Tails cautioned. "You said it yourself: Knuckles never exaggerates."  
  
"No booby traps either," Sonic continued. "I bet there isn't even a jewel!"  
  
Suddenly, the whole room started to shake. The stonewall behind them suddenly slammed shut. "Sonic! Look what you've done!" Amy cried. "Now we're trapped!"  
  
Small pieces of the stone ceiling started falling to the floor. The rocks suddenly piled on top of one another. Rocks and small pebbles all flew at each other and to the center of the room. The gold sheets were ripped off the walls and covered the huge figure that the rocks were forming.  
  
"The rocks," Tails shouted over the roar of the commotion. "They're forming......"  
  
"The guardian!" Shadow finished.  
  
The rocks and gold sheets fused together and formed a huge statue of an echidna. Suddenly, the gold shrine started shaking. A bright light was emitted from under the cover of the box. A large diamond crashed through the top of the shrine and hovered over it: Hell's Jewel. It glowed so bright that the group had to cover their eyes. The diamond hovered over to the giant echidna and set itself into a small slot on its forehead. Then all was quiet.  
  
"That's it?" Tails asked. Before anyone could answer, the gold giant opened its eyes. They were flaming red.  
  
"Now we're in trouble!" Sonic cried.  
  
The giant lifted one of its huge hands and brought it down onto the floor, causing a small earthquake and making a huge crack that spread throughout the entire room. "I told you we were going to have to defeat this thing!" Shadow yelled.  
  
"Relax!" Sonic said. "I've done this before with the Egg Golem. We just need to get the jewel off—"  
  
Before he could finish, the giant slammed Sonic against a wall. Then it turned to the other three. "Okay, you two," Shadow instructed. "Do whatever it takes to get that diamond out of its forehead!"  
  
The giant let out a huge roar that shook the room and brought its other hand down, making more cracks and another earthquake. "You asked for it!" Shadow aimed himself at the giant's head. He curled up into a ball and did a homing attack on the jewel. The giant caught him halfway there and threw him down onto the ground.  
  
Amy had gotten out her Pico Pico hammer and started hitting the giant's foot. "You leave Sonic alone, you (slam) big (slam) fat (slam) meanie!" The giant flicked her against the wall with its thumb and forefinger and laughed.  
  
Tails took his brand new laser-guided micro bazooka out if his knapsack and aimed it at the giant. "You hurt my friends! I'll never forgive you!" He pulled the trigger. A dozen small rocket shells fired at the giant. Eleven of them missed, but one was able to explode near its eyes. The giant reeled backward and let go of Sonic, who was still pinned to the wall.  
  
"Okay tough guy," he said. "Now it's my turn!"  
  
Sonic curled up into a ball and started zooming around the giant, making it dizzy. The huge guardian lost its balance and fell to the ground. Shadow got up and ran to Sonic before he was crushed by the behemoth.  
  
Tails joined them with his bazooka and Amy, who was still recovering from her close encounter with the wall, came over and hugged Sonic. "I'm so glad you're okay!"  
  
"Not now, Amy, we have to destroy this thing!" Sonic shouted.  
  
"But how?" Shadow demanded. "It's too powerful. The energy from that jewel is unstoppable."  
  
The giant got back up and looked at the group through its damaged eyes. It let out another roar and started charging at them with full force. "I've got an idea!" Sonic said. "Amy, give me your hammer. Tails, I want you to aim at that thing's feet. When I give you the signal, fire a round."  
  
The giant was still charging and roaring. "Shadow, use your hover shoes to lift me up. I'll knock that jewel off its head with this hammer! Amy, catch the jewel when it falls."  
  
Shadow grabbed Sonic and activated his shoes. "Ready when you are," he said.  
  
The giant was only a few feet away by now. It extended its hands, ready to crush the intruders. "NOW!" Sonic shouted.  
  
Tails fired six rounds at the monster's feet. They hit their target. The shells exploded, causing the giant to loose its balance and fall. Shadow lifted Sonic into the air. The giant was falling and its head was coming straight for Sonic. "Just a little closer......"  
  
Bam! Sonic slammed the hammer into the jewel just before the giant fell to the ground. The diamond wriggled loose and popped out if its head. Amy caught the jewel in her gloved hands, making sure it never touched her fur.  
  
The giant froze in midair. Then, it disintegrated. The rocks and pebbles it was complied of came crashing to the floor, partially crushing the gold shrine as well as Tails' multi-beam flashlight. The rocks settled and then disappeared into thin air as if they never existed.  
  
Sonic, Shadow, Tails and Amy, all cut up and bruised, stared at the wrecked room. "That was a bit too much," Shadow mumbled.  
  
Amy beamed at the beautiful diamond she was holding. "This is it! Hell's Jewel! We found it!"  
  
Sonic took the jewel, making sure that only his glove touched it. "We have to get this to my house. Come on!"  
  
***  
  
Rouge's Lamborghini cut through the vines and pulled up to the ruins, followed by dozens of huge, hovering mining machines. The huge machines landed and immediately started boring holes into the ground in search of the diamond. Dozens of workers started pouring from the machines and began surveying the new mining site.  
  
Rouge smiled and put on a pink hard-hat. "This is all going perfectly!" she said gleefully. "Before long, I'll be the richest woman in the world!"  
  
"What about my pay?" A tall man got out of the passenger seat of Rouge's car. It was the guard from the jail. "My fifty grand? I'm the one who tipped you off."  
  
Rouge pulled a checkbook out of her purse. "Here," she said, handing the guard a check. "You've been quite helpful. All that gem-finding equipment was getting me nowhere."  
  
The guard bowed and tipped his hat. "Pleasure to be of service," he said. Then he disappeared into the jungle.  
  
Rouge watched him until he was out of eyesight. She turned to the miners. "The ruins!" she cried. "Drill near the ruins! That's where the jewel is."  
  
The machines turned and started boring their drills into the ancient ruins, completely ripping them apart. Rouge didn't care. She was going to be rich after this. One of the machines, a small Porto-Miner, stopped drilling. Its operator jumped from the cap and ran over to Rouge shouting, "I've found something, Miss Rouge!"  
  
Rouge looked over at the machine. Its drill was stuck halfway into the ground near a gold statue. She spread her wings and quickly flew over to the spot. "Well, what is it?"  
  
"The bit got stuck in this shaft," the miner explained. "I think it might lead to that diamond you're wanting to find." He climbed back into the machine and moved the large drill bit to reveal a deep shaft.  
  
"I'll go," she said. With a wink, her slim body disappeared into the shaft. She came to the bottom of the shaft and continued down a long corridor. At the end of the corridor was a large room with gold sheets covering high walls. The floor was full of cracks and the ceiling looked like it had almost caved in at one point. At the other end of the ovular room was a large, partially destroyed gold shrine. Rouge smiled and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed her boss's number.  
  
"What? Hello?" It was Niagera P. Dredmond the Third. "Is this Rouge? I told you never to call me unless it was absolutely necessary!"  
  
"Oh, but it is. I've found the jewel's shrine."  
  
***  
  
Niagera hurled himself from the back seat of his Rolls-Royce limo before the car even came to a stop. He brushed himself off and raced toward the shaft as instructed by Rouge. Not even a minute later, he was standing in the large, ovular gold room. More miners had gathered and were studying the ruins, getting ready to mine for more jewels.  
  
"Rouge! Ha ha!" Niagera bellowed. "This is wonderful! It's only been a week since I hired you and already you've found the very item I've been searching for throughout the last decade and a half!"  
  
Rouge simply smirked and put her hands on her hips. "It was nothing. I am the world's greatest treasure hunter after all," she said.  
  
"That you are! Now tell me, where is Hell's Jewel?" Niagera inquired, eager to get his hands on the precious stone.  
  
"It's in that gold box," Rouge said, pointing to the partially destroyed shrine.  
  
Niagera walked over to it and gave it an odd look. "Looks like it's been crushed. No matter!" He put on a pair of lead-impeded gloves and lifted the gold box onto the remaining portion of the shrine. He slowly began to lift the lid. His eyes bugged out. "Finally! It's mine! This box contains......" He lifted the lid. "...Absolutely nothing," he whispered, a shocked look replacing the smile on his beak.  
  
Every worker stopped doing their jobs and quickly stood up against the walls, leaving Rouge out in the open. Niagera slowly turned around, a look of rage replacing the quick look of shock. "Where is it?" he hissed. "Where's my diamond?"  
  
Rouge was horrified. She put her hands up and began to back up against the wall. "I—I don't know! Someone must've taken in!"  
  
Niagera was slowly, menacingly advancing. "Who took it?" he hissed. "You?"  
  
"No! Of course not!" Rouge was now pressed up against the wall. Niagera towered over her, extremely outraged.  
  
"IF YOU DIDN'T, WHO DID?" he roared. He slammed his foot against the ground in aggravation. "Ow," he mumbled, and looked down to see what he stepped on. It was a partially crushed flashlight. "How the hell did this get here?"  
  
Rouge took the flashlight and studied it. "This is one of Tails' inventions," she concluded. "Sonic must've been here. That means he has the diamond!"  
  
"Sonic the hedgehog? That chilidog-obsessed blue thing?" Niagera asked. "Well, you're going to get it back. And I'M coming with you!" He turned and exited the room, followed by Rouge. "No one steals diamonds from Niagera Patterson Dredmond the Third!"  
  
***  
  
Everyone stared at the large diamond, which was sitting on the dining room table in Sonic's house. "So, what do we do now?" Tails asked.  
  
"Nothing. Just make sure nobody gets this until Knuckles can get out of jail," Sonic replied.  
  
"Why can't we just bail him out?" asked Shadow.  
  
"Because I don't have forty thousand dollars to pay his bail!"  
  
"You think Rouge or Niagera will know it's here?" Amy asked. "I mean, they do have access to gem-finding technology. They could trace it to our house."  
  
"Then we'll just have to protect it," Sonic replied. Suddenly, the soft growling of an engine caught everyone's attention (hey, that rhymed).  
  
"I'll go take a look," Shadow said. He got up and headed for the front window. He opened the curtains a bit and looked out to see a large, black limousine parked in front of the house. "Oh, crap! It's Niagera and Rouge!" Then he added, "He's got a nice car."  
  
The front door suddenly swung open. Rouge stood there, glaring at the group. "Sonic, where's that diamond?" she demanded.  
  
Sonic scooped the diamond up in his gloved hand. "Right here! And you're not getting it!"  
  
Rouge walked into the house and pulled out her stun gun. "Oh yes I am!" she fired off several stun bolts. "Nothing is going to stand between me and two billion dollars!"  
  
Everyone ducked as the stun bolts headed for them. Sonic, on the other hand, simply used his speed to get out of the bolts' way. "Missed me!" He watched Rouge load another energy cartridge into her gun. "Look, Rouge, I'll give you this diamond under one condition."  
  
Rouge looked up. "And what might that be?"  
  
Sonic grinned and ran out the front door. "Beat me in a race!" he called back.  
  
Niagera was waiting for Rouge behind the wheel of his car. James was in the back. Normally James would drive, but this time Niagera needed to get around fast. Suddenly, he saw a blue streak quickly pass his car. "What was that?" he mumbled.  
  
"A blue streak," James replied. Niagera rolled his eyes. Rouge suddenly appeared and climbed into the passenger seat (which was on the left side because the car was made in England).  
  
"Sonic has the jewel, go after him!" she ordered. Niagera nodded and slammed his foot on the gas pedal. The heavy car suddenly lurched forward at ninety miles an hour. Sonic was still a long way ahead of them. "He's heading for route 201!" Rouge said. She saw Sonic turn onto the long highway, which connected Station Square to the mainland.  
  
"I've got him!" Niagera made a sharp turn and veered onto the entrance ramp, nearly running two cars off the road. But Sonic was getting farther and farther away from them.  
  
"It's no use," Rouge mumbled. "He's too fast."  
  
"Nonsense!" Niagera bellowed. He flipped a small switch on the veneer-lined dashboard. The car shook and the boot (trunk) opened. Small jet engines extended from the boot and fired up, sending the car careening toward Sonic. "They don't call this car a ROLLS-Royce for nothing!" Niagera cackled, carefully avoiding other cars that were in his way.  
  
Sonic looked back. He saw nothing; all the cars were left behind. He stopped and took a deep breath. "Hmm, that was easy." He tossed the diamond up and down in his hand. Suddenly, he heard the sound a small jet engine. He looked behind him to see Niagera's limo heading right for him. It was catching up fast. "Oh, great!" Sonic took off again. Before he knew it, the limo was only inches behind him.  
  
In the car, Niagera handed Rouge his 44-Magnum handgun. "You, onto the bonnet (hood) and get that diamond! Now!"  
  
Rouge took the gun. "You want me to kill him?"  
  
Niagera shook his head. "No, it's only loaded with rubber balls. Just get out there and get that diamond NOW!"  
  
Rouge stared at Niagera for a moment before opening the passenger window. She carefully climbed out onto the bonnet, the high winds almost throwing her off. Hanging on for her life, she clung to the car and set the gun between the wings of the car's Flying Lady hood ornament on the nickel- plated grille to use as an aiming device.  
  
Sonic looked back and saw her about to shoot him. "Rouge? What are you doing?"  
  
Rouge bit her lip and aimed. "Sorry Sonic, but my boss wants me to do this." She fired. A rubber ball shot out and hit Sonic in the leg, causing him to stumble, almost hitting his leg against the large grille. She fired again. This one hit Sonic right in the back. He lost his balance and was slammed against the grille. The limo made a sudden stop, sending both Sonic and Rouge flying off the car. Niagera exited the vehicle.  
  
Rouge tiredly got up and looked at Sonic, who was writhing in pain. Then she saw the diamond lying next to him on the ground. All thoughts of sympathy were lost. "Hurry up and get that diamond!" Niagera shouted.  
  
Rouge walked over to Sonic and grabbed the diamond with her gloved hands. She walked back over to the limo and held the jewel up to Niagera, who was beaming. "James, you drive. I have some business to attend to with Miss Rouge in the back of my car."  
  
All three climbed into the expensive car. A set of legs unfolded from beneath James that he used to reach the foot pedals. Sonic opened one eye and watched the limo drive off in the distance. "I failed. The world is in jeopardy because of me," he mumbled.  
  
***  
  
"Excellent work, Rouge," Niagera commented as he studied his diamond. He and Rouge were in the large back seat of his limo.  
  
"As I said before, sir, I'm the best," Rouge replied, smirking. "Now, about my pay, plus half of the thing's value?"  
  
Niagera stopped inspecting his treasure and glanced at her. "Ah, yes, hold on, I'll get my checkbook," he said, reaching for his gun under his suit.  
  
Rouge smiled and rubber her hands together. Finally, all her hard work had paid off. Quite a bit, too.  
  
"You may now consider yourself the richest woman in the world," Niagera muttered. Rouge, still beaming, turned to look at him. Expecting Niagera to be holding up a green check, there was a gun aiming directly at the forehead. Niagera smiled evilly. "I take that back," he said. "Consider yourself the deadest woman in the world."  
  
Rouge gaped at the gun and then at Niagera. "You—you are a lunatic!" she cried.  
  
Niagera laughed. "You should've listened to that pesky echidna," he said. Then his expression turned serious. "We can do this two different of ways," he hissed. "One: I shoot you right here, right now."  
  
"You can't shoot me with that, it's loaded with rubber balls," Rouge countered, hoping she could get out of this alive.  
  
Niagera scowled and shot a hole through the roof of the car. "Can rubber balls do that?" He aimed once more at her forehead. "I suggest we do this the second way: get out of the car. NOW!" He snapped his fingers and Rouge's door opened automatically. Rouge gasped at her oncoming fate. "Goodbye," Niagera hissed. He kicked Rouge out of the car. She went sprawling all over the road, almost being hit by a truck and a few cars.  
  
Niagera watched her happily as she bounced up and down like a dying cat. The door closed automatically. "Now, James," he called to his robotic driver. "To my mansion."  
  
"Are you sure she's dead, sir?" James inquired.  
  
Niagera held the diamond up to the light and smiled as it reflected his image. "I'm positive. No one can survive a fall from a car like that."  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
Is Rouge dead? Will the world be safe? Will Knuckles ever get out of jail? Why am I asking you all these questions? All these questions will be answered in the next exciting chapter!  
  
One more thing, I want you reviewers to include an evil rating for Niagera with your reviews: 1 being not that evil and 10 being a total backstabbing, untrustworthy scumbag. Have fun!  
  
All reviews accepted! 


	5. Mayhem In The Mansion

Interesting ratings in got back from you reviewers. I didn't know you all thought Niagera was so evil.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter #1.  
  
Chapter 5: Mayhem In The Mansion  
  
Rouge was very much alive. Lying bruised and bloodied on the side of the road, she woozily lifted her head and watched Niagera's limo speed off toward Dredmond Manor. "You liar," she mumbled, and picked herself up off the ground.  
  
She had definitely gotten herself, as well as the fate of the world, into a jam. She couldn't stop this madman alone. She needed help, and she knew just the place to go.  
  
***  
  
Back at Sonic's house, Shadow was putting bandages around Sonic's bruised hand. "Looks like she really did a number on you," he said.  
  
Shadow tightened the bandages and Sonic slipped his glove back on. "Not really. It's when I flew off the car that I really got hurt. Ow..." He dabbed some rubbing alcohol onto a cut on his leg. "That stings."  
  
"So now that Niagera's got the diamond, what happens to us?" Tails asked.  
  
"We have to stop him," Sonic replied.  
  
"How?" Amy demanded. "Knuckles said that that jewel's power is unstoppable. This isn't like going out and defeating Eggman. We might need Knuckles' help for this."  
  
"Yeah, but he's in jail and we don't have enough money to bail him out," Tails mumbled.  
  
Suddenly, the front door swung open. Everyone looked to see Rouge standing there, cut up and bruised. "YOU!" Shadow growled. "Get out of here!"  
  
Rouge ignored him and entered the house. "Knuckles was right," she said. "He tried to kill me by throwing me out of his limo at a high speed." She was able to smile a bit. "But it takes more than that to kill Rouge the bat," the finished, then winced in pain again.  
  
"Thanks to you the world is in danger!" Tails exclaimed. "What do you have to say about that?"  
  
"I came to say this: I need your help to defeat Niagera," Rouge replied.  
  
"We can't stop the power of the jewel," Shadow muttered. "We would need Knuckles' help, and he's in jail."  
  
"And we don't have enough money to pay his bail," Tails said.  
  
Rouge smirked. "You don't, but I do!"  
  
***  
  
The group pulled up to Station Square Prison in Shadow's old, clunky Checker. Knuckles was waiting behind the bulletproof glass in the visiting room. He picked up the telephone and chuckled as he saw Rouge hesitantly sit down across from him. "Did we learn our lesson?" he asked, mockingly.  
  
Rouge crossed her arms over her chest. "...Okay...I admit, you were...right," she mumbled into the telephone. "Her tried to kill me."  
  
"I see," Knuckles replied, observing the cuts and bruises on her face.  
  
"We're here to bail you out," Tails said. "Rouge has enough money."  
  
"Really, Rouge? I didn't know you cared," Knuckles said, grinning.  
  
Rouge scowled. "Just consider yourself lucky, Knucklehead. I never would've come to bail you out unless these guys had asked me."  
  
"We didn't ask," Amy said. "You volunteered."  
  
Rouge cast Amy a cold stare and then turned to find Knuckles still grinning. "Like I said, I didn't know you cared."  
  
***  
  
The group walked out of the prison and headed for Shadow's Checker. "So," Knuckles began. "Did you find the diamond? Is it safe?"  
  
Everyone stopped and gave each other nervous looks. "Well," Tails began. "To tell the truth, Niagera got it."  
  
Knuckles stared at him. "No! How could he have gotten it? I told you guys to keep it safe!"  
  
"We did. But then Rouge came, tried to kill Sonic, got the diamond and gave it to Niagera."  
  
Knuckles looked like he was about to kill someone. He turned and glared at Rouge. "YOU! How could you?!" He started charging at her. "Because of you the whole world is in danger!"  
  
Sonic grabbed Knuckles just before he was about to strangle Rouge. "Hold on! I forgot to tell you that we came to bail you out so you could help us get the diamond back."  
  
Knuckles ignored him and kept reaching for Rouge. "How could you be so stupid? Didn't the offer sound a little too good to be true in the first place? Hmm?"  
  
"Well, if you must know," Rouge said, pushing Knuckles away from her. "It's the power of money. It does things to your mind."  
  
"You would know!" Knuckles growled. "You walked smack into some evil genius's plan, as usual, and now you expect us to save the world!"  
  
Tails threw a small pebble at Knuckles, getting his attention. "Hello? Before we all kill each other I suggest we get over to Dredmond Manor and try to get the jewel back!"  
  
Everyone looked at him. "He's right," said Rouge. "No use standing around trying to strangle me while that crazy duck begins to take over the world."  
  
"Okay, look. I might know someway to stop the power of that jewel," Knuckles began. "But it's not going to be easy. I'm going to need all of your help."  
  
***  
  
The majestic Dredmond Manor loomed in the distance. Night was about to fall and lots of spotlights turned on the illuminate the mansion. The clock tower's face lit up automatically, sending a soft glow of light to illuminate the huge front lawn.  
  
Shadow drove his Checker past the front gates, which had been left open, and down the long driveway until they came to the fountain. Niagera's limo was parked right next to it. "At least we know he's here," Amy said, stepping out of the car.  
  
The group climbed out of Shadow's car and ran up to the large oak front doors. Sonic turned the doorknob. "They're locked," he said.  
  
"Of course they're locked," Rouge muttered. "You think Niagera wants people coming into his house while he takes over the world?"  
  
"Any ideas on how to open them?" Amy asked. "Shadow, do you still have your lock-picking set with you?" There was no response. "Shadow?"  
  
Everyone turned and saw the black hedgehog peering into Niagera's limo. "Wow, and it's even got a cocktail set!"  
  
"Shadow, no complimenting the bad guy's car!" Tails shouted.  
  
Shadow shrugged. "I wasn't complimenting, I was just observing. And to answer your question, Amy, I don't have my lock-picking set with me."  
  
Knuckles walked up to the door and cracked his knuckles. "Leave it to me," he said, aiming a powerful punch at the door lock. He slammed his fist into the solid gold lock, which instantly shattered. The large oak door creaked and slowly swung open on its hinges.  
  
The huge marble foyer was almost completely dark. The only light source was a single small chandelier on the far wall, near the grand staircase. It was very quiet. The only sound was that of the clock tower's pendulum in the center of the room, slowly swinging back and forth.  
  
The group cautiously entered the mansion, peering through the darkness. "It's quiet," Tails said. "Too quiet..."  
  
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Rouge mumbled.  
  
Suddenly, the room was flooded with bright light. "What was that?" Sonic asked. He heard a buzzing sound coming from the top of the stairs. Everyone looked to see James hovering toward them.  
  
"Warning! Warning! Intruder alert!" it shouted. "All units to the foyer immediately!"  
  
Hidden doors in the marble walls suddenly opened up and dozens of Guard- Bots entered the room. They formed a circle around Sonic and the group. Their arms had laser attached to them, which they raised and aimed at the group. "Fire at the intruders!" James ordered. The guards opened fire. Dozens of small laser blasts headed for the group.  
  
"Oh, great," Sonic mumbled. "Here we go again." He curled up into a ball and crashed through seven of the thirty guards. "That wasn't so tough."  
  
"Um, Sonic..." Tails pointed to more oncoming Guard-Bots.  
  
Sonic turned around. "What?" He was suddenly caught by a guard and hurled up into the air. The robot aimed at him and fired. The laser ball missed by mere inches.  
  
The rest of the Guard-Bots attacked Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Rouge. "Quick," Knuckles ordered. "Scatter!" The group ran to separate corners of the room.  
  
Amy got out her hammer and started smashing the machines. "Take that and that and that!" Suddenly, one robot came over and shot a red laser at the hammer. The hammer melted. Amy stared at the machine. "Gotta go!" she said, and then ran away from the guard.  
  
Rouge had gotten out her stun gun and was short-circuiting the guards. Within minutes, she had a pile of fried robots in front of her. "I win, as usual," she snickered, twirling the gun on her index finger. Suddenly, she felt a mechanical hand close around her waist. She was lifted off the floor by a large Guard-Bot.  
  
Shadow saw her and did a homing attack on the robot, destroying it and releasing Rouge. "Thanks, Shadow," she called.  
  
Shadow gave her the thumbs-up. "All in a day's work." He was suddenly hit by the swinging pendulum. Tails was hanging onto the pendulum with him. More Guard-Bots entered the room, crowding everybody into a small circle.  
  
"There are too many of them" Knuckles said. "Everyone up onto the pendulum! They'll be easier to destroy from above!"  
  
The remaining group struggled to climb onto the swinging bob of the pendulum. Shadow and Tails helped them up. "Help!" came a voice from one corner of the room. Sonic looked to see Amy surrounded by six robots, all ready to fire.  
  
"I'm coming, Amy!" Sonic curled up into a ball and zoomed across the room, destroying the machines. He scooped Amy into his arms and zoomed back onto the pendulum. Amy hugged him. "My hero!" she said.  
  
The Guard-Bots stopped the pendulum and started climbing up onto it. "We're trapped!" Tails cried.  
  
Shadow looked up to see an entrance to the clock tower's clock works. "Look, we can climb into the clock tower!" He pointed to the small door.  
  
Rouge aimed her stun gun at it and blew the door open with an energized bolt. "Quick, everyone up," she said, climbing up into the clock tower. Everyone followed her. They were suddenly surrounded by dozens of gears and other clock mechanisms. "Hide in the gears," Shadow said.  
  
Before anyone could hide, more shots came from the robots and blasted through the floor of the tower. The floor was destroyed, leaving everyone hanging onto the gears so they wouldn't fall.  
  
The guards kept shooting up at them, destroying parts of the clock works. "They're going to destroy the tower!" Sonic cried. Everyone braced themselves for the impact.  
  
One of the guards' sent a large laser ball up through the gears, destroying the primary support. The mechanism shook and gears started falling, crushing the Guard-Bots. Suddenly, the whole clock movement fell from the tower, crashing to the floor. Gears and other parts flew everywhere, destroying the marble columns supporting the ceiling. The glass clock face was ripped from its socket and shattered on top of the destroyed mechanism. Glass flew everywhere, shooting through the remaining few Guard-Bots, destroying them. Marble columns and balconies fell from the walls, covering the rubble of the clock tower. A huge cloud of dust was whipped up and then settled all over the once beautiful marble foyer, which now lay in ruins.  
  
Shadow emerged from the rubble, pulling Sonic and Rouge out with him. Knuckles threw a heavy gear off of him and helped Amy and Tails out from under the clock's large mainspring. "There's three hundred million dollars in damage," he mumbled.  
  
Sonic observed the wreckage. "Whoa, did we do that?"  
  
"I'm surprised Niagera hasn't rushed out from behind a wall to kill us yet," Shadow muttered.  
  
"Speaking of which, how do we find him?" Tails asked.  
  
Everyone turned to Rouge. "You know this mansion better than all of us, batgirl," Knuckles said. "How do we find him?"  
  
Rouge scowled. "You're asking me? This house is so big it would take us days to search the entire thing!" she cried, annoyed.  
  
"I highly disagree," came a voice from behind the group. Everyone turned to see James. The robotic butler was missing an arm and oil was leaking from the side of its damaged head. "Master Dredmond is in the laboratory."  
  
"And where would that be?" Sonic demanded.  
  
A small door on James' cylindrical body opened. James pulled out a small remote control. "Allow me to show you." He pressed the button. The floor under the group opened up and everyone fell down a long shaft.  
  
***  
  
Amy stirred and opened her eyes. She and the rest of the group were lying on the cold, metal floor of a large room. Various computer readouts lined the wall. Old, proto-type mining machines were scattered around the room. Amy reached over and shook everyone. They also opened their eyes and looked around.  
  
"Where are we?" Knuckles asked.  
  
Shadow got up and looked around. "We appear to be in some kind of lab used for testing robots and computers," he observed.  
  
"How right you are," came a cold voice from behind them.  
  
Everyone jumped up and turned around. Niagera was standing there, tossing Hell's Jewel up and down in his right hand, smiling evilly. He glanced at his watch. "Hmm, three hours and twenty-two minutes since I threw you out of my limo, Rouge." He shook his head. "I would've expected better from someone like you."  
  
James appeared next to Niagera. "I thought you said she was dead," he said.  
  
"I thought that until I caught them with one of my hidden cameras," Niagera said, coolly. "I'm surprised that you got past my Guard-Bots, they're pretty difficult to defeat, especially when dozens of them are coming at you at the same time."  
  
"Nothing's too difficult for us," Rouge spat. She approached Niagera and glared at him. "Nobody double-crosses Rouge the bat!"  
  
"Well, I just did," Niagera said.  
  
Knuckles came to Rouge's side. "We came to get the jewel," he growled. "Hand it over, unless you're looking for a fight."  
  
Sonic put his hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "Easy, Knux. He's the one with the 'all-powerful' diamond, remember?" Knuckles sighed and backed away.  
  
"Actually, echidna, I was rather looking for a fight. But first," he pulled off one of his lead-impeded gloves. "I think I'll harness the power of Hell's Jewel."  
  
Everyone gasped. "No!" Knuckles cried.  
  
Niagera chuckled as he brought his un-gloved hand near the diamond. "I've been waiting fifteen years for this moment," he said, and placed his hand on the jewel.  
  
A huge bright light flashed from the diamond. A loud crackling sound followed. Niagera suddenly keeled over as the jewel's power was transferred to him. Bolts of lighting surrounded him and the bright light began to flash. A green bubble engulfed Niagera, and lifted him off of the floor. The bubble started glowing so brightly that everyone was almost went blind. An explosion sounded, and the bubble burst, dropping Niagera onto the floor. He breathed heavily and wiped some sweat off of his forehead. He glanced at the jewel in his hand a smiled. A maniacal laugh burst from inside of him. The laugh lasted for about ten minutes before Niagera suddenly stopped and grinned at the horrified group.  
  
"Yes!" he shouted. "The power of Hell's Jewel is mine! Now, what to do first?" He turned to the group. "Any suggestions?"  
  
"How about you destroy yourself!" Amy shouted.  
  
"Hmm, good suggestion. But, no!" Niagera waved his hand and Amy was suddenly thrown against the wall.  
  
She struggled to escape the clutch of Niagara's power, but she couldn't move. "Sonic, help! I'm stuck!"  
  
Sonic charged at Niagera. "You let her go!" He aimed a homing attack at the billionaire.  
  
Niagera waved his hand again and Sonic also got stuck to the wall. "This is fun!" he said, gleefully. Niagera looked at Tails, Shadow and Rouge. He nodded his head and they, too, were slammed against the wall, stuck.  
  
"Forget me?" Knuckles asked, smirking.  
  
Niagera grinned evilly and shook his head. "I have something special in mind for you, echidna," he hissed. He pointed at Knuckles. Green rings suddenly formed around his arms and legs, virtually shackling him to the floor so he couldn't move.  
  
Niagera walked over to him and admired his work. "Hmm, I never knew the power of this jewel was so...powerful...what should I do next?"  
  
"You're not going to make it rain Steinway pianos, are you?" Tails asked. Everyone glared at him.  
  
Niagera smiled. "Yet another bright idea from Mr. Prower." He snapped his fingers. Knuckles looked up to see a grand piano about to fall on top of him. He braced for the impact, but it never came. He looked up again to see the piano hovering in one place.  
  
"Come to think of it," Niagera said. "That would be a waste of a good instrument." He snapped his fingers again and the piano disappeared.  
  
"So, what are you going to do with all that power?" Knuckles growled. "Play games? Aren't you going to fight me?"  
  
Niagera chuckled. "My dear echidna, I'm going to do a lot more than fight you. Before I use this jewel to take over the world, I think I'm going to have some fun."  
  
Knuckles began to get worried. "What do mean 'fun'?"  
  
Niagera chuckled again and tossed the diamond up and down. "Let me explain. Sonic, Shadow, Mr. Prower, Rouge and even Amy have special talents that will be of use to me when I rule the world. Sonic is fast, Rouge is a treasure hunter, Mr. Prower is a genius, Amy knows a little bit of everything..."  
  
"Yeah right!" Sonic interrupted. Niagera glanced at him and snapped his fingers. A piece of duct tape appeared over his mouth.  
  
"...And Shadow is cool," Niagera continued. "But you, you're useless! I'll have no use for you when I rule the world. So, that makes you obsolete. Obsolete things must be destroyed."  
  
"Now you sound like a robot," Knuckles mumbled. "So, are you gonna' fight me or not?"  
  
"Gee, you're just begging to be destroyed, aren't you?" Niagera shook his head. "Very well, echidna, prepare for the fight of your life!"  
  
Niagera clutched the jewel and his eyes started glowing an eerie green...  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
Ohhh! Big fight scene coming up! Who are you cheering for: Knuckles or Niagera? Will Knuckles win, or will evil triumph? Find out in the next exciting chapter!  
  
All reviews and evil scale ratings welcome! 


	6. Defeating Niagera

I just noticed I had a lot of spelling errors in the previous chapter. I feel like an idiot. Note: This chapter is sort of violent, so I'm giving it a PG-13 for violence.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter #1.  
  
Chapter 6: Defeating Niagera  
  
Niagera clutched the jewel and his eyes started glowing an eerie green. "Let's begin, shall we?" He snapped his fingers and Knuckles was freed from the green shackles. He charged at Niagera, who calmly remained standing still. Niagera watched Knuckles charge at him. "Time for some fun," he cackled.  
  
Knuckles was inches away from Niagera when a bright green light flashed. Knuckles stopped and covered his eyes. When the blinding light passed, he looked and saw, not Niagera, but Amy standing in front of him. "Amy, wha...?"  
  
"Hi, I'm Amy Rose," the Amy clone said. Suddenly, she started shaking and grew to a height of twelve feet. The giant Amy maniacally grinned down at Knuckles and got out her Pico Pico Hammer. "Don't you think I'm cute?!"  
  
The giant Amy brought the hammer down on Knuckles, who was barely able to dodge it. The hammer hit the floor, creating a huge crater. "Niagera must be using the power of the jewel to shape-shift," Knuckles gasped. The giant Amy smashed the ground again and again and again. Knuckles was able to dodge them with only millimeters to spare.  
  
"Aren't you going to fight back?" The giant Amy asked, annoyed. She stopped smashing things with the hammer. "Come on, hit me once!"  
  
Knuckles breathed heavily and charged at the giant Amy. He aimed a powerful punch at her stomach. "Here I come!" Knuckles' fist made contact with her stomach. The giant Amy reeled backwards and almost fell.  
  
"Okay, I know never to do that again," she said, irritated. She raised her hammer and aimed for Knuckles. "Okay, echidna, this time I won't miss!" The hammer came crashing on Knuckles, crushing him. The giant Amy smiled and lifted her hammer. Knuckles suddenly came flying from the bottom of the crater created by the hammer. He landed on the giant Amy's nose.  
  
"Take this!" Knuckles shouted and slammed his fist into the giant's forehead. The giant Amy reeled backwards again, and this time it lost its balance and fell. The giant hit the ground with a sickening THUD. Knuckles jumped off and backed away.  
  
A bright light flashed again and the Amy shape-shifted back into Niagera. He got up off the floor and shook his head. "Obviously I underestimated your physical capabilities. Very well then," he said, still clutching his jewel. "If a giant Amy Rose can't defeat you, then maybe someone with a knowledge of martial arts such as yourself will!"  
  
Niagera's eyes glowed green again and he instantly shape-shifted into....a Knuckles clone. "Have at thee, coward!" The Knuckles clone came charging at the real Knuckles.  
  
Knuckles (the real one) stared in amazement at his oncoming clone. He raised his fists and prepared to defend himself. Before he could do anything, though, he felt an iron glove slam into his face, sending him careening across the room into a wall. "Not so tough now, are you?" the clone asked, smiling.  
  
Knuckles regained his footing and charged at his clone. "That's what you'd like to think!" He raised his fists, but did not punch. Instead, he elbowed the clone in the stomach. The clone backed away and then charged again. It jumped and landed on Knuckles, pinning it to the floor. It proceeded to punch Knuckles continuously in the face.  
  
"Had enough yet?" the clone hissed. Knuckles opened a black eye and grinned.  
  
"Nope," he said. He grabbed the clone's neck and started strangling it. The clone gagged and gasped. It grabbed Knuckle's arms and pulled them away before it suffocated. Knuckles kicked the clone off of him.  
  
Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Tails and Rouge, who were still stuck to the wall, watched the two echidnas beat the crap out of each other with interest. "I can't tell which Knuckles is real," Tails said.  
  
"I know how," Shadow said. He turned to the action and called, "Go Knuckles! Kick his ass!"  
  
The real Knuckles looked up and smiled. Then he was punched by the clone. Knuckles rubbed his jaw and charged at the clone. Before he punched him, Knuckles stuck his leg out, tripping his clone. The clone did a somersault and landed on its feet a few meters away from Knuckles. "Obviously, we're too evenly matched," said the clone. It pulled the jewel out from behind its back and clutched it. Once again, the bright light flashed.  
  
Knuckles suddenly saw Sonic standing in front of him. "Hi, I'm Sonic the hedgehog!" Sonic curled into a ball and ran right into Knuckles, knocking him off his feet. "You wouldn't happen to have any chilidogs on you, would you?"  
  
"Enough games," Knuckles growled. "We finish this now!" Knuckles charged at Sonic, who remained calm. Seconds before he hit the blue hedgehog, Sonic zoomed to the other end of the room.  
  
"Missed me!" he called. "Slow poke!" Sonic zoomed back and forth, back and forth. Each time he hit Knuckles as he passed.  
  
On the tenth pass, Knuckles, bruised and cut up, collapsed. Sonic stopped running and looked down at the echidna. "Come on! You're no fun, get up and fight!"  
  
Knuckles quickly opened his eyes and delivered a powerful kick to Sonic, who went flying into a wall. "First rule in martial arts," Knuckles said. "Never let your guard down."  
  
Sonic scraped himself off the wall and shape-shifted back into Niagera. "It seems that Sonic was not effective at all," he mumbled. "Very well, if I can't defeat you alone, perhaps more of me will do!" He clutched the jewel. There was no flash of light this time. Instead, another Niagera appeared behind the original Niagera. And another, and another, and another, and another, and another. The six Niageras' formed a circle around Knuckles. "Which one of us is real?" they asked. "Only one way to find out!"  
  
They charged at Knuckles. He jumped up and started kicking the clones, knocking them down. Each time a clone fell it sizzled and disappeared. But each time one was destroyed two more appeared. "This is ridiculous," Knuckles gasped as he punched an oncoming Niagera.  
  
"Having a hard time?" the Niageras' asked. "I'll give you a hint, the real Niagera is wearing a gold watch."  
  
Knuckles struggled to look for a gold watch as he kicked away two more clones. Suddenly, he spotted a tint of gold on one of the Niageras' wrists. Knuckles struggled to get through the throng of ducks. He reached the real Niagera, who smiled and punched him, sending Knuckles flying back into the crowd. Several clones grabbed him and held him in place so he couldn't move. They stopped fighting and let the real Niagera approach Knuckles.  
  
"Hmm, looks like I've won," Niagera hissed, grinning. "And to pay for the damage you've done to my laboratory, all of your friends on the wall over there, who were originally going to aid me in taking over the world, will now face my wrath." He started laughing maniacally again. He stopped suddenly and looked at Tails. "Not you, Mr. Prower. I like you; you have a bright future ahead of you. You're free to go." He snapped his fingers and Tails fell from the wall. The tan fox ran for his life and went through the exit.  
  
"Tails! You traitor!" Amy called.  
  
Niagera turned back to Knuckles. "Where was I? Oh yes, laughing maniacally!" He laughed again and then stopped. "Tell me, did 'face my wrath' sound pathetic, or was it very convincing?"  
  
Knuckles sneered and spat in Niagera's eye. Niagera wiped the spit away and was instantly surround by a fierce green bubble of energy. "I've had my fun," he snarled. "Now I'm going to destroy you and your friends once and for all!" The bubble exploded, sending a green energy beam slamming into Knuckles. The beam was scorching hot, and Knuckles clenched his teeth, trying to ignore the searing pain.  
  
The beam stopped and Niagera, one again surrounded by a green bubble, walked over to him. "The power of Hell's Jewel is awesome, is it not?" He sent a smaller green energy ball careening toward Knuckles. The ball hit him and exploded, slamming Knuckles into a wall.  
  
"I'll give you one chance to hit me," Niagera said. "Go ahead, try."  
  
Knuckles woozily opened his eye. Very weak, he got up and walked over to Niagera. He raised his fist in an attempt to punch him. Niagera suddenly grabbed his arm. "Too slow!" He bent Knuckles' arm behind his back. Knuckles cried out in pain. "Yes, echidna, feel the pain!" Niagera sent a bolt of energy surging through Knuckles' body. The pain was almost unbearable.  
  
'There's no way I'm gonna' defeat this guy,' Knuckles thought. 'I might as well give up.' Then he noticed Niagera's gold watch. Knuckles mentally smiled. He had an idea.  
  
Niagera stopped the energy bolt. "Are you dead yet? I have to get to work on your friends!"  
  
In one quick move, Knuckles grabbed the clasp of Niagera's watch and tore it from his wrist. Niagera, being a man who put the value of material positions in front of people's lives, stared in horror as Knuckles crushed the solid gold watch in his hand. "There," he said. "Now you can kill me."  
  
Niagera gaped at the ruins of his watch. "It's gone!" He cried. "My limited edition solid gold Rolex Submariner with the diamond hour markers and mother-of-pearl face! One of only fifteen on the whole planet!" He turned to face Knuckles, extreme rage on his face. "YOU! You're going to pay for that!"  
  
Before Niagera could energize himself with the jewel, Knuckles delivered a powerful punch to his jaw, sending Niagera slamming against a wall. The jewel flew out of his hand and landed next to Knuckles. He quickly scooped it up and hid it behind his back.  
  
Niagera rubbed his beak and glared at Knuckles. "Time to die!" he shouted, and pulled out his 44-Magnum handgun. He aimed at Knuckles, who merely smiled and stood there. Niagera fired. The bullet hit Knuckles in the forehead. He fired again. This bullet pierced Knuckles' right lung. Niagera fired again and again and again until he was out of bullets.  
  
Everyone gasped. "Knuckles!" Rouge cried. Knuckles simply stood there and smiled.  
  
"Why won't you die? I fired ten rounds at you!" Niagera roared.  
  
Knuckles chuckled and slowly revealed Hell's Jewel to Niagera. He was holding it in an un-gloved hand. "The power of Hell's Jewel is awesome, is it not?" Knuckles asked, mocking Niagera.  
  
Niagera went pale. "You—you've harnessed its power?"  
  
Knuckles nodded. "And now, using its power, I'm going to destroy it!" He lifted the jewel above his head, ignoring the shouts from Niagera. He slammed the jewel against the floor. The diamond instantly shattered, its pieces glowed a bright white and then disappeared leaving trails of smoke. Both Knuckles and Niagera felt the jewel's power leave them the moment it shattered.  
  
Niagera stood there, gaping. He fell to his knees and slammed his fists against the floor. "No! This can't be!" he shouted. He tried to manipulate the pieces of his shattered watch to see if he had any power left. There was none.  
  
Knuckles had a triumphant look on his face. "You see, Niagera, evil never wins, no matter how hard it tries," he said.  
  
Niagera looked up. He stared at Knuckles, hatred burning in his eyes. He lunged at Knuckles, knocking him to the floor. Niagera put one hand around his throat and used the other to punch him continuously. "You've destroyed my mansion, my watch, my laboratory, my jewel and my one chance to rule the world!" he roared. "Now I'm going to destroy you!"  
  
Niagera raised his fist and brought it down onto Knuckles' bloody, bruised face. Before it made contact, Niagera felt someone kick him in the throat. He flew off of Knuckles and landed face first on the floor. He coughed up some blood and looked to see Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Rouge standing in front of Knuckles. "What? How did you escape?" he choked.  
  
Sonic stepped forward. "When Knux destroyed that jewel, the power was also destroyed and we were free," he said. "Now, it's time to take out the trash!" He curled up into a ball and charged into Niagera, knocking him off of his feet. Rouge flew up and caught him, allowing Shadow to do a homing attack on him. Niagera fell to the ground, just in time to see Amy swing her partially melted mallet and smash his left hand, shattering the bones. He cried out in pain.  
  
"How does it feel?" Knuckles asked, being helped to his feet by Sonic. "The pain?"  
  
Niagera winced and then woozily got to his feet. He pulled out his 44- Magnum again and reloaded it. "Allow me to show you how I feel." In one quick move he grabbed Rouge, put his arm around her neck and shoved the barrel of his gun into her shoulder. "I can't believe I have to stoop to this level," he muttered. "Okay, nobody come near me, or you can say 'bye, bye' to batgirl here!"  
  
"You leaver her alone!" Knuckles roared.  
  
"Ah-ah-ah," Niagera said, shaking a finger. He dragged Rouge over to one corner of the room. On the wall was a large red button. Niagera pressed it with his beak, not daring to take his hands off Rouge. Alarms went off and the floor started to vibrate a bit.  
  
"Thank you, Miss Rouge," Niagera cackled. "You've been most helpful." He pulled the trigger.  
  
A bullet shot through Rouge's shoulder. Blood started seeping through both sides of the hole and stained her clothes. Niagera put his foot against her back and kicked her across the room back to the group. "Rouge!" Knuckles cried. He ran over to her and put his arm around her shoulder so she could support herself.  
  
Rouge's eyes started to slowly close. "Get me...to...hosp...hos..." She collapsed before she could finish her sentence.  
  
The small vibration under the floor had turned into an earth-shattering rumble. Suddenly, the center of the floor opened up. A black jet emerged from the hole. "My modified 'get away' Gulf Stream-5," Niagera said. "A beauty, isn't she?" He ran to the open door on the side of the jet. James was in the cockpit, ready to fly away. Before the door closed, Niagera smiled at Knuckles. "I will return, echidna, and when I do, it will be your LIFE!" The door closed. Suddenly, the ceiling of the lab started rolling back, revealing the bright blue morning sky.  
  
The jet's engines fired up and the plane vertically lifted off of the ground. Once it cleared the roof, the engines rotated and the plane shot off in the distance. "He's getting away!" Shadow cried.  
  
"No he's not." Everyone turned to see Tails. He was smiling and holding a screwdriver. Suddenly, they heard a huge BANG. Everyone looked to see Niagera's jet engulfed in the flames of a huge explosion. The plane started spinning out of control until it was a mere dot on the horizon. Then it was gone.  
  
Everyone stood there, silent, for a minute or two. "So....we won?" Shadow asked.  
  
"I planted that bomb on his plane when he let me go," Tails said, triumphantly.  
  
Sonic smirked. "You tricky little devil!" he said, giving Tails the thumbs- up.  
  
Knuckles was holding Rouge's unconscious body in his arms. "Guys, we need to get Rouge to a hospital! Now!"  
  
***  
  
Station Square Hospital. The group had crowded themselves into a small room, watching Rouge as a doctor patched up the hole in her shoulder. "Well, I've done all I can do," the doctor said. "We just have to wait." And with that, he left the room.  
  
Sonic, Shadow, Tails and Amy were sitting in one corner of the room. "Poor Rouge," Amy mumbled, sadly.  
  
Knuckles was standing next to Rouge's bed, looking down upon her. He stood there for a few minutes, hoping that she would make it. Finally, after an hour of waiting, he turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, let's go. The doctor will call us when she comes to," he said.  
  
The group got up and exited the room. Knuckles gave Rouge a last worried glance before turning around and heading for the door. Suddenly, he felt someone grab his hand. "Leaving so soon, Knucklehead?" Knuckles turned to see Rouge smiling up at him.  
  
"Rouge!" he cried, and bent down to hug her. She hugged back. Three seconds later, they both realized what they were doing and pushed each other away. "Okay, that never happened," Knuckles muttered, blushing.  
  
"Oh yes it did!" Sonic said, slyly. He and the rest were poking their heads through the doorway, watching them. The group entered the room and gathered around Rouge's bed. "So, how do you feel?"  
  
"Like I've been thrown out of a limo and then shot," Rouge replied.  
  
"I wonder why?" Tails asked, sarcastically.  
  
"Do you feel all right?" Shadow inquired.  
  
Rouge rubbed her shoulder. "Yeah, basically, but I can't feel my arm."  
  
"That's temporary," Knuckles said. "The wound should heal in a few days."  
  
"Wait, what happened to Niagera?" Rouge asked.  
  
Knuckles shook his head. "He's dead. He got away in his plane, but it turns out that Tails planted a bomb on it after he let him go. It exploded. We all saw the remnants disappear over the horizon."  
  
The doctor re-entered the room. "She's regained consciousness already?" he asked, scratching his chin. "Well, I guess we can release you."  
  
***  
  
The group stood outside of the hospital. "Well," Shadow began. "I think I've hade enough adventure for one day. I'm going home." He waved goodbye to the group and headed down the street for his apartment building.  
  
"We'd better be off, too," said Sonic. He gestured to Tails and Amy. "Se ya, Knux. By Rouge."  
  
Knuckles and Rouge waved at them and watched them head for Sonic's house. The nervously looked at each other. "Well, that leaves us," Knuckles said.  
  
"Yeah," Rouge said. They stood there for a moment, thinking about what they should say next. Rouge checked her watch. "It's almost lunchtime," she said. "If you want...you could...um...come have lunch with me..." She trailed off and blushed, looking away.  
  
Knuckles smiled. "I might just do that," he said, and took Rouge's hand. She looked down and blushed madly. "Shall we go?" he asked.  
  
Rouge nodded and the couple headed down the street toward the Luncheonette.  
  
***  
  
(Epilogue)  
  
And that was that. Rouge and Knuckles started dating, finally, after that day.  
  
Rouge, unfortunately, had all of her money seized and repossessed by the remaining N-Corp officials. She had to give up her car, jewelry, and million-dollar condo. She still worked for the government as a spy, though.  
  
Tails sent in an article for 'Mechanics Today' magazine about how Niagera was a madman who tried to take over the world. He also finally got one of his inventions patented.  
  
Amy finally tricked Sonic into going out with her.  
  
Shadow finally got to sit home and watch Star Wars.  
  
Knuckles never looked at another Steinway grand piano.  
  
And Niagera, well, he's dead. The scorched remnants of his Gulf Stream-5 crashed off the coast of the city of Megalopolis. The remnants were retrieved and no bodies were found. Obviously, Niagera burned up in the explosion.  
  
Yup, he was dead all right.  
  
But then again, with Niagera P. Dredmond the Third, you never can tell....  
  
THE END...?  
  
That's it. Short, but sweet. I loved the ending.  
  
Special Thanks to all my reviewers, especially Virtual-Reality and RI2. Your reviews were honest, and they made me laugh! But now that you've read my story, see if you'll change Niagera's position on the Evil scale.  
  
As you can see, there's a bit Knux/Rouge at the ending. Don't worry; there will be a lot more in the soon-to-come sequel. Speaking of a sequel, why don't I give you a little preview?  
  
***  
  
(Preview to the sequel)  
  
The factory had been shut down for two and a half years, and it showed. Everywhere Rouge looked there was rusted machinery. Thick blankets of dust rested on top of everything, and the air smelled of mold.  
  
"Why in the world would anyone want to break into a place like this?" Rouge asked herself.  
  
Suddenly, she heard a sound. She quickly spun around to see what was behind her. Nothing, just more machinery. And dust. Nervous, Rouge aimed her flashlight at the machine, trying to see if someone was hiding in the darkness. No one was there.  
  
"This place is starting to creep me out," she said as she continued through the factory.  
  
She heard it again. It was the sound a robot would make when flexing its robotic hands; sort of a vibrating hum. Rouge spun around again, only to see nothing. "Hello?" she called. "Is...anyone here?"  
  
"Hello, Rouge," came a cold, steely voice from behind her.  
  
Rouge froze. 'I know that voice,' she thought. 'But where do I know it from?' Rouge slowly turned around to see a tall, slim figure, half covered in the shadows. She shined her flashlight on the figure and gasped. "N—Ni—Niagera?!"  
  
***  
  
That's your preview of the sequel. I bet you can't wait to read it! Well, you won't have to wait long, because I'll post it as soon as I can!  
  
All reviews and evil ratings accepted! 


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